Maseden regretted the words the instant they were uttered. Sturgess stopped as though he had been struck, and his somewhat sallow face flushed darkly.
“It will be a pretty mean business if you and I manage to quarrel, won’t it?” he said thickly.
CHAPTER XII
A PEEP INTO THE FUTURE
“
Oh, forget it!” cried Maseden, more angry now with himself than with the youngster whose candor had provoked this outburst. “I didn’t intend to be offensive. My mind was running on the day’s worries. We’re in a deuce of a fix, and I can see no way out of it. If I annoyed you by a careless expression, I apologize.”
“Rub it off the slate, friend. I only want to put in a first bid for Madge, so to speak.”
“But, for all you know, she may be—engaged to some other man,” Maseden could not help retorting.