At that moment Ned Kilmeny stepped out upon the hotel porch. Lady Jim nodded toward him.
"Perhaps," his cousin conceded. "But in this little old world a man doesn't get what he deserves."
"I see he doesn't. Ned is a better man than you."
"Yes," he admitted.
Captain Kilmeny, coming down the porch steps, saw in a flash what had happened. He came forward with the even stride and impassive face that seldom deserted him. In two sentences Lady Farquhar told him the facts.
"You lucky dog," he said to his cousin as their hands gripped.
Jack had never liked him better than in this moment when he was giving up so cheerfully the thing he wanted most in the world.
"It isn't always the best man that wins, captain. I take off my hat to the better men who have tried and failed. Perhaps it may be a comfort to them to know that I'm the man that needs her most."
The captain turned to Moya. "So you've found that good hunting already," he said to her in a low voice.
"Yes, I think I have ... I'm sure of it, Ned." Her eyes were full of tender sympathy for him. She wished she could tell him how much she admired his fine spirit.