Innes went off down-hill in a passion of resentment, easy to be
understood, but which yielded progressively to the needs of his
situation. He cursed Archie for a cold-hearted, unfriendly, rude, rude
dog; and himself still more passionately for a fool in having come to
Hermiston when he might have sought refuge in almost any other house in
Scotland. But the step once taken, was practically irretrievable. He
had no more ready money to go anywhere else; he would have to borrow
from Archie the next club-night; and ill as he thought of his host's
manners, he was sure of his practical generosity. Frank's resemblance
to Talleyrand strikes me as imaginary; but at least not Talleyrand
himself could have more obediently taken his lesson from the facts. He
met Archie at dinner without resentment, almost with cordiality. You
must take your friends as you find them, he would have said. Archie
couldn't help being his father's son, or his grandfather's, the
hypothetical weaver's, grandson. The son of a hunks, he was still a
hunks at heart, incapable of true generosity and consideration; but he
had other qualities with which Frank could divert himself in the
meanwhile, and to enjoy which it was necessary that Frank should keep
his temper.

So excellently was it controlled that he awoke next morning with his
head full of a different, though a cognate subject. What was Archie's
little game? Why did he shun Frank's company? What was he keeping
secret? Was he keeping tryst with somebody, and was it a woman? It
would be a good joke and a fair revenge to discover. To that task he
set himself with a great deal of patience, which might have surprised
his friends, for he had been always credited not with patience so much
as brilliancy; and little by little, from one point to another, he at
last succeeded in piecing out the situation. First he remarked that,
although Archie set out in all the directions of the compass, he always