Page:The Outcry (London, Methuen & Co., 1911).djvu/185

Rh Mr. Bender participated thus at his perceptive ease in the exposed aristocratic illusion. "Yes, I guess he has always lived as he likes, the way those of you who have got things fixed for them do, over here; and to have to quit it on account of unpleasant remark—"But he gave up thoughtfully trying to express what this must be; reduced to the mere synthetic interjection "My!"

"That's it, Mr. Bender," Hugh said for the consecration of such a moral; "he won't quit it without a hard struggle."

Mr. Bender hereupon at last gave himself quite gaily away as to his high calculation of impunity. "Well, I guess he won't struggle too hard for me to hold on to him if I want to!"

"In the thick of the conflict then, however that may be," Hugh returned, "don't forget what I've urged on you—the claim of our desolate country."

But his friend had an answer to this. "My natural interest, Mr. Crimble—considering what I do for it—is in the claim of ours. But I wish you were on my side!"

"Not so much," Hugh hungrily and