“Nonsense! Sink your pride and grow strong and well. I have plenty for both of us, my boy.”
“And do you think I shall settle down to such a life as that, Brettison? No; you know me better.”
The old man was silent for a few minutes.
“Yes,” he said at last; “I expected you to speak like that, but it is only absurd pride.”
“I have not much left me in life,” said Stratton quietly as he rose from the seat he had occupied. “Let me enjoy that.”
Brettison made no reply. He was pained and yet pleased as he sat back and saw through the smoke of his cigar the dim figure of his companion pass and go down toward the sea, gradually growing more indistinct, till the darkness swallowed him.