“With pleasure, but that will not stop the row. There is a way out, but it appeals to me as damnably low.”
“Oh, Abbott will not run. He isn’t that kind.”
“No, he’ll not run. But if you will agree with me, honor may be satisfied without either of them getting hurt.”
“Women beat the devil, don’t they? What’s your plan?”
Courtlandt outlined it.
The colonel frowned. “That doesn’t sound like you. Beastly trick.”
“I know it.”
“We’ll lunch first. It will take a few pegs to get that idea through this bally head of mine.”
When Abbott came over later that day, he was subdued in manner. He laughed occasionally, smoked a few cigars, but declined stimulants. He even played a game of tennis creditably. And after dinner he shot a hundred billiards. The colonel watched his hands keenly. There was not the slightest indication of nerves.
“Hang the boy!” he muttered. “I ought to be ashamed of myself. There isn’t a bit of funk in his whole make-up.”