"Stiff. Is the business serious?"
They began to pace up and down the grass walk while Jasper told Jeremy Winter the truth about Stonehanger. Jeremy was a good listener, shrewd, attentive, and ready to compare new facts with the gleanings of a very varied experience. He was an easy man to confide in, because he was so full of a sage understanding. Jeremy had led a picturesque and rather dissipated life between the twenties and forties, and it is the man who has been a man who is of most use to his brother men.
"So you fell in love with the girl, lad. What! I'm old dog enough to know that! Heaven help me, it happened to me every month when I was a youngster. But I was only in love—once—you know; the great splash; and she left me to drown."
"That's all done with, Jeremy."
"Twenty years ago, sir."
"No, I mean my small incident. It was just an inclination; no more than that."
Jeremy regarded him with an affectionate twinkle.
"Just so—just so."
"I have got to pull this nest of spies to pieces. The girl mustn't blame me. I've got to do my duty."
"Duty! You be very careful of that word, Jasper. It's a fool's word. I don't trust men who talk about their duty. Why not send a file of soldiers in?"