“My good fellow, will you go your way, and let me go mine?”
“In plain English, Doctor, no, I won’t; and if you knock me down I’ll get up again, put my hands in my pockets, and follow you wherever you go. I shan’t hit out again, though I am in better training and can use my fists quicker than, you can, and I’ve got the pluck, too, as I could show you. Do just what you like, call me names or hit me, but I shan’t never forget you’re Jenny’s brother. Now, I say, don’t be a brute to a poor fellow. It ain’t so much of a sin to love the prettiest, dearest, little girl that ever breathed.”
“Will you be silent?”
“Oh, yes, if you’ll talk to a fellow. You might be a bit more feeling, seeing you’re in the same boat.”
“You insufferable cad!” cried Leigh, furiously.
“Yes, that’s it. Quite right—cad; that’s what I am, but I’m trying to polish it off, Doctor. I say, tell me how she is. She was so bad.”
“My sister has quite recovered.”
“Hooray!” cried Claud, excitedly. “But, I say—the ankle. How is it?”
“Look here, my good fellow, you must go. I will not answer your questions. Are you mad or an idiot?”
“Both,” said Claud, coolly. “I say, you know, about that ankle. I believe you were so savage that night that you kicked it and broke it.”