‘Upon my word, I hardly know what to say about it,’ said Aylmer.

‘Suppose then, that we say nothing more.  Will not that be best?’

’No, Clara.  I cannot now let the matter pass by in that way.  You have asked me whether I do not think Mr Belton to be a gentleman, and I must say that I doubt it.  Pray hear me out before you answer me.  I do not want to be harder upon him than I can help; and I would have borne, and I did bear from him, a great deal in silence.  But he said that to me which I cannot allow to pass without notice.  He had the bad taste to speak to me of his his regard for you.’

‘I cannot see what harm he did by that except to himself.’

’I believe that it is understood among gentlemen that one man never speaks to another man about the lady the other man means to marry, unless they are very intimate friends indeed.  What I mean is, that if Mr Belton had understood how gentlemen live together he would never have said anything to me about his affection for you.  He should at any rate have supposed me to be ignorant of it.  There is something in the very idea of his doing so that is in the highest degree in-delicate.  I wonder, Clara, that you do not see this yourself.’

‘I think he was indiscreet.’

’Indiscreet!  Indiscreet is not the word for such conduct.  I must say, that as far as my opinion goes, it was ungentlemanlike.’

’I don’t believe that there is a nobler-minded gentleman in all London than my Cousin Will.’

‘Perhaps it gratified you to hear from him the assurance of his love?’ said Captain Aylmer.

‘If it is your wish to insult me, Frederic, I will leave you’.

’It is my wish to make you understand that your judgment has been wrong.’

’That is simply a matter of opinion, and as I do not wish to argue with you about it, I had better go.  At any rate I am very tired.  Goodnight, Frederic.’  He then told her what arrangements he had made for the morrow, and what hour she would be called, and when she would have her breakfast.  After that he let her go without making any further allusion to Will Belton.

It must be admitted that the meeting between the lovers had not been auspicious; and it must be acknowledged, also, that Will Belton had behaved very badly.  I am not aware of the existence of that special understanding among gentlemen in respect to the ladies they are going to marry which Captain Aylmer so eloquently described; but, nevertheless, I must confess that Belton would have done better had he kept his feelings to himself.  And when he talked of crushing his rival’s bones, he laid himself justly open to severe censure.  But, for all that, he was no Bobadil.  He was angry, sore, and miserable; and in his anger, soreness, and misery, he had allowed himself to be carried away.  He felt very keenly his own folly, even as he was leaving the room, and as he made his way out of the hotel he hated himself for his own braggadocio.  ‘I wish some one would crush my bones,’ he said to himself almost audibly.  ’No one ever deserved to be crushed better than I do.’