"I am at your service," Brooks answered, quietly.
The room was fairly full, so they moved a little on one side. Lord
Arranmore for a moment or two studied his son's face in silence.
"You show signs of the struggle," he remarked.
"I have been overworked," Brooks answered. "A week or two's holiday is all I require—and that I am having. As for the rest," he answered, looking Lord Arranmore in the face, "I am not discouraged. I am not even depressed."
"I congratulate you—upon your zeal."
"You are very good."
"I was going to speak to you," Lord Arranmore continued, "concerning the paragraph in this week's Verity, and these other attacks which you seem to have provoked."
Brooks smiled.
"You too!" he exclaimed.
"I also!" Lord Arranmore admitted, coolly. "You scarcely see how it concerns me, of course, but in a remote sense it does."