"Nor will I," said Humphrey. "I will see myself drawn and quartered first."
"Then," said Cornelius, "go and break it to her yourself, for I will not."
"Break what?" asked Humphrey passionately. "Break her heart, when I tell her, if I must, that my brother repudiates his most sacred promises?"
Cornelius was touched. He relented. He softened.
"Can it be that she loves us both?"
They were at the end of the table, near the chairs, which as usual were side by side.
"Can that be so, Cornelius?"
They drew nearer the chairs; they sat down; they turned, by force of habit, lovingly towards each other; and their faces cleared.
"Brother Humphrey," said Cornelius, "I see that we have mismanaged this affair. It will be a wrench to the poor girl, but it will have to be done. I thought you wanted to marry her."
"I thought you did."