Violet Jacob > Flemington

TREACHERY
89
“ What did you do ?” asked James, astounded.
“ I chose warming-pans,” said Archie, “ and
that ended the matter.”
James laughed aloud, but there was bitterness
in his mirth. And this was a man born at St.
Germain!
“We laugh,” said he, “but such a life could
have been no laughing matter to you.”
“ But I assure you it was 1 What else could
I do ?”
“You could have left the place ” began
James. Then he stopped short, remembering
that beggars cannot be choosers.
His expression was not lost on Archie, who
saw that the boat he had steered so carefully into
the shallows was drawing out to deep water
again, and that he had used his luxuriant imagina¬
tion to small purpose. He had so little self-
consciousness that to keep James’s interest upon
himself was no temptation to him, though it
might have been to some men. He cast about
for something wherewith to blot his own figure
from the picture.
“ And you,” he said, gravely, “ you who think
so much of my discomforts, and who have actually
wielded the sword while I have merely threatened
to wield the warming-pan—you must have seen
stranger things than the kitchen.”
“ I ?” said James, looking fixedly out to where
the town steeple threw its reflection on the wet
sand—“ yes. I have seen things that I hope you
will never see. It is not for me to speak ill of