and all the reputation there is to win in this place. Come and dine
tonight, and we will rejoice together. But wasn't it--for you--a
little difficult?'

He looked at her as if she had offered him a cup, and then dashed it
from his lips; but the occasion was not one, of course, for crying
out.

'Oh no,' he said, putting on an excellent face. 'But it took a
hideous time.'



Chapter 2.X.

Within a fortnight I was surprised and a little irritated to receive
from Armour the amount of my loan in full. It was not in accordance
with my preconceived idea of him that he should return it at all. I
had arranged in my own mind that he should be governed by the most
honest impulses and the most approved intentions up to the point of
departure, but that he should never find it quite convenient to pay,
and that in order to effect his final shipment to other shores I
should be compelled to lend him some more money. In the far future,
when he should be famous and I an obscure pauper on pension, my
generous imagination permitted me to see the loan repaid; but not
till then. These are perhaps stereotyped and conventional lines to
conceive him on, but I hardly think that anybody who has followed my
little account to this point will think them unjustifiable. I
looked at his cheque with disgust. That a man turns out better than
you expected is no reason why you such not be annoyed that your