"Of course," continued Madeleine with a sarcastic inflection—"of course, I can't expect you to see it as I do. Men look at these things differently, I know. Possibly if I were a man, I, too, should stand by, with my hands in my pockets, and watch a friend butt his head against a stone wall—thinking it, indeed, rather good fun."
She had touched Dove on a tender spot. "I can assure you, Miss Madeleine," he said impressively, as they picked their steps across a dirty road—"I can assure you, you are mistaken. I think just as strictly in matters of this kind as you yourself.—But as to interfering in Guest's ... in his private affairs, well, frankly, I shouldn't care to try it. He was always a curiously reserved fellow."
"Reserved—obstinate-pig-headed!—call it what you like," said Madeleine. "But don't imagine I'm asking you to interfere. I only want you to tell me, briefly and simply, what you know about him. And to make it easier for you, I'll begin by telling you what I know.—It's an old story, isn't it, that Maurice once supplanted some one else in a certain young woman's favour? Well, now I hear that he, in turn, is to be laid on the shelf.—Is that true, or isn't it?"
"Really, Miss Madeleine!—that's a very blunt way of putting it," said Dove uncomfortably.
"Oh, when a friend's at stake, I can't hum and haw," said Madeleine, who could never keep her temper with Dove for long. "I call a spade a spade, and rejoice to do it. What I ask you to tell me is, whether I've been correctly informed or not. Have you, too, heard Louise Dufrayer's name coupled with that of a man called Herries?"
But Dove was stubborn. "As far as I'm concerned, Miss Madeleine, the truth is, I've hardly exchanged a word with Guest since spring. Into his ... friendship with Miss Dufrayer, I have never felt it my business to inquire. I believe—from hearsay—that he is much changed. And I feel convinced his PRUFUNG will be poor. Indeed, I'm not sure that he should not be warned off it altogether."
"Could that not be laid before him?"
"I should not care to undertake it."
There was nothing to be done with Dove; Madeleine felt that she was wasting her breath; and they walked across the broad centre of the ROSSPLATZ in silence.
"Do you never think," she said, after a time, "how it would simplify life, if we were able to get above it for a bit, and see things without prejudice?—Here's a case now, where a little real fellowship and sympathy might work wonders. But no!—no interference!—that's the chief and only consideration!"