"That's deuced kind of you. So you must see it would never do."
"It would not do?"
"No, of course it wouldn't! What a fellow you are, George!" said Paul, almost testily. "The girl does not suit me in the smallest degree, and--and there's another one that does."
"Ah, I had forgotten about that."
"My good fellow, you seem to have left your wits behind you at the office for Billy Dunlop to take care of. What the deuce are you mooning about?"
"Nothing; I was only a little confused for the moment. And you are still over head and ears in that quarter, my poor Paul?"
"By Jove, you may well say that!"
"You correspond, of course, during your absence?"
"I've heard from her once or twice."
"And you carry the letters there," touching his friend's breast-pocket. "Ah, I heard a responsive crackling of paper, my poor old Paul."