Jasper threw up his chin.
"All right, Jeremy. I'd tackle him—curse him!—even if he were a better man than you."
"You wait a bit, my lad."
"You had better call me a coward!"
Jeremy laid a hand on Jasper's shoulder.
"Stop that. Do you think I don't love you, lad? Do you think I want to have you run through by a swaggering blackguard like De Rothan? He's a good shot, too, mind you. You wait a bit, till we have had a week with the foils."
As men they knew each other, and Jasper was touched.
"I'm a hot-headed fool, Jeremy. I'll do what you wish."
[XVIII]
Had Jasper Benham been able to see into Nance's heart he would have felt a man's pity for her, that richer tenderness that dissolves away the pettier and more selfish thoughts.