"I trust favorably," Richard suggested.
Blundel stretched his legs a little and pushed his hands further down into his pockets.
"Now, what would you call favorably?" he inquired.
"Oh," replied Richard, with a self-possessed promptness, "favorably to the connecting branch."
It was rather a fine stroke, this airy candor, but he had studied it beforehand thoroughly and calculated its effect. It surprised Blundel into looking up at him quickly.
"You would, eh?" he said; "let us hear why."
"Because," Richard stated, "that would make it favorable to us."
Blundel was beguiled into a somewhat uneasy laugh.
"Well," he remarked, "you're frank enough."