He added, a second later:
"Why the devil shouldn't I believe you? It's either believing you're a gentleman or Ruggles a liar. It's only common-sense to believe Ruggles a liar, in that case. I didn't before because I had no grounds to." Christopher said:
"I doubt if liar is the right word. He picked up things that were said against me. No doubt he reported them faithfully enough. Things are said against me. I don't know why."
"Because," Mark said with emphasis, "you treat these south country swine with the contempt that they deserve. They're incapable of understanding the motives of a gentleman. If you live among dogs they'll think you've the motives of a dog. What other motives can they give you?" He added: "I thought you'd been buried so long under their muck that you were as mucky as they!"
Tietjens looked at his brother with the respect one has to give to a man ignorant but shrewd. It was a discovery: that his brother was shrewd.
But, of course, he would be shrewd. He was the indispensable head of a great department. He had to have some qualities. . . . Not cultivated, not even instructed. A savage! But penetrating!
"We must move on," he said, "or I shall have to take a cab." Mark detached himself from his half buried cannon.
"What did you do with the other three thousand?" he asked. "Three thousand is a hell of a big sum to chuck away. For a younger son."
"Except for some furniture I bought for my wife's rooms," Christopher said, "it went mostly in loans."
"Loans!" Mark exclaimed. "To that fellow Macmaster?"