"I know! I know! Mr. Beaumaroy, your position is very difficult. I see
that. It really is. But, would you take the money for yourself? Aren't
you--well, rather in the position of a trustee?"

"Who for? The hated cousins? What's the reason in that?"

"They may be very good people really. Old men take fancies, as you said
yourself. And they may have built on--"

"Stepping into a dead man's shoes? I dare say. Why mayn't I build on it
too? Why not my hand against the other fellow's?"

"That's what you learnt from the war! You said so--at Old Place. Captain
Naylor said something different."

"Suppose Alec Naylor and I, a hero and a damaged article," he smiled at
Mary, and she smiled back with a sudden enjoyment of the humorous yet
bitter tang in his voice, "loved the same woman, and I had a chance of
her. Am I to give it up?"

"Really we're getting a long way from medicine, Mr. Beaumaroy!"

"Oh, you're a general practitioner! Wise on all subjects under heaven!
Conceive yourself hesitating between him and me--"

Mary laughed frankly. "How absurd you are! If you must go on talking,
talk seriously."

"But why am I absurd?"