"No, I don't mean myself, of course," Colonel Colquhoun answered, "Putting myself out of the question. It is Price, I mean."
"That dried-up old chap?" Menteith exclaimed. "Well, he's pretty safe, I should say! And I should never be jealous of a parson myself. Women always treat them de haut en bas."
"I believe, sir, that Mrs. Colquhoun is perfectly 'safe' with anyone whom she may choose for a friend," Colonel Colquhoun said with an emphasis which made Menteith apologize immediately.
Colonel Colquhoun asked Evadne that evening what she thought of the projected marriage.
"I think it detestable," she answered.
"Well, I think it a pity myself," he said. "She's such a nice looking girl too."
Evadne turned to him with a flash of hope. "Can't you do something?" she exclaimed. "Can't you prevent it?"
"Absolutely impossible," he answered. "And I beg as a favour to myself that you won't try."
"I have done my best already," she said.
"Then you have made your friends enemies for life," he declared. "A girl like that won't give up a man she loves even for such considerations as have made you indifferent to my happiness—and welfare."