I'll be generous and give them
to you. If I cannot afford to be generous, I don't know who can!"
"Thank you very much, Mr. Dunstan," answered Geoffrey coldly, "but I am
not in the habit of accepting such presents from my--acquaintances. Will
you have a glass of sherry?--no. Then shall we join Lady Honoria?"
This speech quite crushed the vulgar but not ill-meaning Saint, and
Geoffrey was sorry for it a moment after he had made it. But he was
weary and out of temper. Why did his wife bring such people to the
house? Very shortly afterwards their guest took his leave, reflecting
that Bingham was a conceited ass, and altogether too much for him. "And
I don't believe that he has got a thousand a year," he reflected to
himself, "and the title is his wife's. I suppose that is what he married
her for. She's a much better sort than he is, any way, though I don't
quite make her out either--one can't go very far with her. But she is
the daughter of a peer and worth cultivating, but not when Bingham is at
home--not if I know it."
"What have you said to Mr. Dunstan to make him go away so soon,
Geoffrey?" asked his wife.
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