“It is monstrous. You were unjust to him from the first.”
“I, sir?”
“Yes. But then how can a man who has never had a child be just to the weaknesses of the young?”
“I can be just, sir, and I have been. You don’t know the supercilious way in which that boy treated me from the day he entered our office. Always late, and as soon as he was settled down to his work, in must come that scoundrel with the French name to ask for him, and get him away. Why, Mr Van Heldre, sir, if I hadn’t been a law-abiding subject of her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria, I’d have knocked that man down.”
“Bah!” said Van Heldre impatiently, as he lay back frowning, and looking very thoughtful. “I am sorry that you should have entertained such a suspicion about the son of my old friend.”
“Ah!” sighed Crampton. “Poor Mr Vine! It’s heart-breaking work, sir. It is, indeed.”
“Heart-breaking!” said Van Heldre. “It is atrocious. There, I will not speak angrily, Crampton.”
“No, sir. You must not; and now I’m going, sir. You’ve talked twice as much as is good for you.”
“Sit down,” said Van Heldre sternly.
Crampton, who had moved towards the door, slowly resumed his place.