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210 for fear of it. More than a sensitive man ought to be asked to bear.”

Puffin made a noise that sounded rather like “Fudge!”

“Your pardon?” said the Major haughtily.

“Granted by all means,” said Puffin. “But I don’t see what you’re in such a taking about. We’re no worse off than we were before we got a reputation for being such fire-eaters. Being fire-eaters is a wash-out, that’s all. Pleasant while it lasted, and now we’re as we were.”

“But we’re not,” said the Major. “We’re detected frauds! That’s not the same as being a fraud; far from it. And who’s going to rub it in, my friend? Who’s been rubbing away for all she’s worth? Miss Mapp, to whom, if I may say so without offence, you behaved like a cur last night.”

“And another cur stood by and wagged his tail,” retorted Puffin.

This was about as far as it was safe to go, and Puffin hastened to say something pleasant about the hearthrug, to which his friend had a suitable rejoinder. But after the affair last night, and the dark sayings in the High Street this morning, there was little content or cosiness about the session. Puffin’s brazen optimism was but a tinkling cymbal, and the Major did not feel like tinkling at all. He but snorted and glowered, revolving in his mind how to square Miss Mapp. Allied with her, if she could but be won over, he felt he could face the rest of Tilling with indifference, for hers would be the most penetrating shafts, the most stinging pleasantries. He had more too, so he reflected, to lose than Puffin, for till the affair of the duel the other had never been credited with deeds of bloodthirsty gallantry, whereas he had enjoyed no end of a reputation in amorous and honourable affairs. Marriage