Basil shrugged his shoulders.
“You may come here when I’m not at home—if you I behave yourself.”
“I’m not good enough for you, I suppose?”
“No, you’re not,” answered Basil, with deliberation.
“I dare say you’d like to get me out of the way. But I mean to keep my eye on you.”
“What d’you mean by that?” asked Basil, so sharply that James saw he had touched him on the raw.
He pursued his advantage.
“You think I don’t know what sort of a feller you are. I can just about see through two of you. Jenny has something to put up with, I lay.”
But Basil recovered himself quickly, and turned to Jenny with a smile of contempt, which, since it was undeserved, most deeply wounded her.
“Has she been telling you my numerous faults? You must have had plenty to talk about, my dear.” He saw her motion of protest, and gave a laugh. “Oh, my dear girl, if it amuses you, by all means discuss me with your relations. I should be so dull if I had no failings.”