Page:The Princess Casamassima (London and New York, Macmillan & Co., 1886), Volume 2.djvu/169

 against the just resentment excited by his want of tact. That want of tact was sufficiently marked when he went on to say, 'I wanted to see you here, with my own eyes. I wanted to see how it looked; it is a rum sight! Of course you know what I mean, though you are always trying to make a fellow explain. I don't explain well, in any sense, and that's why I go in only for clever people, who can do without it. It's very grand, her having brought you down.'

'Grand, no doubt, but hardly surprising, considering that, as you say, I was put forward by you.'

'Oh, that's a great thing for me, but it doesn't make any difference to her!' Sholto exclaimed. 'She may care for certain things for themselves, but it will never signify a jot to her what I may have thought about them. One good turn deserves another. I wish you would put me forward!'

'I don't understand you, and I don't think I want to,' said Hyacinth, as his companion strolled beside him.

The latter put a hand on his arm, stopping him, and they stood face to face a moment. 'I say, my dear Robinson, you're not spoiled already, at the end of a week—how long is it? It isn't possible you're jealous!'

'Jealous of whom?' asked Hyacinth, whose failure to comprehend was perfectly genuine.

Sholto looked at him a moment; then, with a laugh, 'I don't mean Miss Henning.' Hyacinth turned away, and the Captain resumed his walk, now taking the young man's arm and passing his own through the bridle of the horse. 'The courage of it, the insolence, the crânerie! There isn't another woman in Europe who could carry it off.'