Page:The Other House (London, William Heinemann, 1896), Volume 2.djvu/25

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THE OTHER HOUSE
11

"I see. You hoped it would charmingly come up again."

"So that on learning that it is charmingly coming up, don't you see?" Tony laughed, "I'm so agreeably agitated that I spill over on the spot. I want, without delay, to be definite to you about the really immense opinion I have of dear Paul. It can't do any harm, and it may do a little good, to mention that it has always seemed to me that we've only got to give him time. I mean, of course, don't you know," he added, "for him quite to distinguish himself."

Jean was silent a little, as if she were thoroughly taking this home. "Distinguish himself in what way?" she asked with all her tranquillity.

"Well—in every way," Tony handsomely replied. "He's full of stuff—there's a great deal of him: too much to come out all at once. Of course you know him—you've known him half your life; but I see him in a strong and special light, a light in which he has scarcely been shown to you and which puts him to a real test. He has ability; he has ideas; he has absolute honesty; and he has moreover a good stiff back of his own. He's a fellow of