Page:Stevenson and Quiller-Couch - St Ives .djvu/60

 and my last school of manners was the prison of the Abbaye. Do you think you can teach bitterness to a man with a history like mine?"

"I have no wish to try," said he. "And yet there is one point I cannot understand: I cannot understand that one of your blood and experience should serve the Corsican. I cannot understand it: it seems as though everything generous in you must rise against that—domination."

"And perhaps," I retorted, "had your childhood passed among wolves, you would have been overjoyed yourself to see the Corsican Shepherd." "Well, well," replied Mr. Romaine, "it may be. There are things that do not bear discussion."

And with a wave of his hand he disappeared abruptly down a flight of steps and under the shadow of a ponderous arch.