Searle put his two hands to his face. "Oh, oh, oh!" he softly roared.
Miss Searle crossed rapidly and dropped on her knees at his side.
"Go to bed, you fool!" shrieked her brother.
"Dear cousin," said Miss Searle, "it's cruel that you are to have to think of us so!"
"O, I shall think of you!" he said. And he laid a hand on her head.
"I believe you have done nothing wrong!" she murmured.
"I've done what I could," her brother pursued. "But it's arrant folly to pretend to friendship when this abomination lies between us. You were welcome to my meat and my wine, but I wonder you could swallow them. The sight spoiled my appetite!" cried the furious little man, with a laugh. "Proceed with your case! My people in London are instructed and prepared."
"I have a fancy," I said to Searle, "that your case has vastly improved since you gave it up."
"Oho! you don't feign ignorance, then?" and he shook his flaming chevelure at me. "It is very kind of you to give it up!" And he laughed resoundingly. "Perhaps you will also give up my sister!"
Searle sat in his chair in a species of collapse, staring at his adversary. "O miserable man!" he
