"I understand well enough. 'Tis too Christian ye are entirely. And let us have an end of this farce of yours! I know that Dick cheated as well as you do, and I say 'tis unnatural for you to be wanting him to take your money after he's done you out of honour and all else!"
Carstares sipped his wine quietly, waiting for Miles' anger to evaporate, as it presently did, leaving him to glower balefully. Then he started to laugh.
"Oh, Miles, let me go my own road! I'm a sore trial to you, I know." Then suddenly sobering: "But I want you not to think so hardly of Dick. You know enough of him to understand a little how it all came about. You know how extravagant he was and how often in debt—can you not pardon the impulse of a mad moment?"
"That I could pardon. What I cannot forgive is his—unutterable meanness in letting you bear the blame."
"O'Hara, he was in love with Lavinia—"
"So were you."
"Not so deeply. With me 'twas a boy's passion, but with him 'twas serious."
O'Hara remained silent, his mouth unusually hard.
"Put yourself in his place," pleaded Jack. "If you—"
"Thank you!" O'Hara laughed unpleasantly. "No, Jack, we shall not agree on this subject, and we had best leave it alone. I do not think you need worry about him, though. I believe he is not in debt."