Page:The Novels and Tales of Henry James, Volume 2 (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1907).djvu/382

THE AMERICAN smiled and patted his arm. "You 'd have been an ornament to the Golden Age. Before an affair a man's quiet. The quietest thing I can do is to go straight to my place."

"Ah," said Newman, "you want her to see you there—you and your quietness. Your quietness will drown the orchestra. I'm not so undeveloped. It's the damnedest foolery."

Valentin remained, and the two men, in their respective places, sat out the rest of the performance, which was also enjoyed by Mademoiselle Nioche and her truculent admirer. At the end Newman joined his friend again, and they went out into the street together. The young man shook his head at the proposal that he should get into Newman's own vehicle and stopped on the edge of the pavement. "I must go off alone; must look up a couple of friends who 'll be so good as to act for me."

"I 'll be so good as to act for you," Newman declared. "Put the case into my hands."

"You're very kind, but that's hardly possible. In the first place you're, as you said just now, almost my brother; you're going to marry my sister. That alone disqualifies you; it casts doubts on your impartiality. And if it did n't it would be enough for me that you have n't, as I say, God forgive you, the sentiment of certain shades. You 'd only try to prevent a meeting."

"Of course I should," said Newman. "Whoever your friends are they 'll be ruffians if they don't do that."

"Unquestionably then they 'll do it. They 'll urge 352