Fall of a Great Reputation
Mr. Secretary Drummond had a pale face and red hair; but at this his face became suddenly as red as his mustache.
"I am not a fair judge of him," he said.
"Why not?" asked Grant.
"Because I hate him like hell," said the other, after a long pause, and violently.
Neither Grant nor I needed to ask the reason; his glances towards Miss Beaumont and the stranger were sufficiently illuminating. Grant said, quietly:
"But before—before you came to hate him, what did you really think of him?"
"I am in a terrible difficulty," said the young man, and his voice told us, like a clear bell, that he was an honest man. "If I spoke about him as I feel about him now, I could not trust myself. And I should like to be able to say that when I first saw him I thought he was charming. But, again, the fact is, I didn't. I hate him; that is my private affair. But I also disapprove of him—really, I do believe I disapprove of him quite apart from my private feelings. When first
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