“Ah! where indeed.”
“I’d shoot Wilters if I were in your case.”
“It would be agreeable, but the consequences are so precious unpleasant, Tom. I’ve had one awful drop: I don’t want another.”
“You’re a coward, Charley, big as you are.”
“I am, Tom, if it comes to being hung for shooting a baronet dead. No, Tom, I love Maude very much, but I am not chivalrous enough to risk the rope.”
“Bah!”
“Yes, if you like, I am willing for the matrimonial noose, but that prepared for homicides—no: I would rather remain a bachelor.”
“Then I cut you henceforth,” said Tom, angrily. “I’ve done with you.”
“No, you haven’t, old fellow; some day after Maude is married we shall be quite brothers again.”
“Never.”