“I was thinking, Sir Henry, how much better it would be if we were both to speak out frankly. Now, what do you mean?”
“What do I mean?” said Sir Henry thoughtfully.
He stopped and remained thinking.
“I’ll tell you what you mean, Sir Henry, if you like,” said Hilary. “You have come here now, secure in your power, if you like to call it so, and you are going to try and win me over by soft words to join the other cause.”
“Indeed!” exclaimed Sir Henry, changing his ground. “I did not say anything to make you think such a thing as that.”
Hilary saw that he had made a mistake, and he, too, withdrew his argumentative position.
“Perhaps I am wrong then,” he said.
“Presumably, Hilary. Why, my good boy, of what value would you be to us? I said what I did only out of compassion.”
This nettled Hilary, who, boylike, had no little idea of his importance in the world.
“Oh, no, my dear boy, I only felt a little sorry; and as to being in my power, really I have no power whatever here. I am, as I told you, only a visitor.”