The blood rose to Archie's brow.
'I beg your pardon, I should have said that you had accepted my affront. . . . I admit it was an affront; I did not think to apologise, but I do, I ask your pardon; it will not be so again, I pass you my word of honour. . . . I should have said that I admired your magnanimity with this—offender,' Archie concluded with a gulp.
'I have no other son, ye see,' said Hermiston. 'A bonny one I have gotten! But I must just do the best I can wi' him, and what am I to do? If ye had been younger, I would have wheepit ye for this rideeculous exhibeetion. The way it is, I have just to grin and bear. But one thing is to be clearly understood. As a faither, I must grin and bear it; but if I had been the Lord Advocate instead of the Lord JusticeClerk, son or no son, Mr. Erchibald Weir would have been in a jyle the night.'
Archie was now dominated. Lord Hermiston was coarse and cruel; and yet the
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