Poor Comethup sat for a moment in silence. He felt the delicacy and yet at the same time the falseness of the position in which he stood. With that feeling which was always strongest in him--the desire not to wound any one's feelings--he was prompted now to put the matter as gently as possible; but an explanation must be given, and given firmly. After a moment's silence, he looked round at Brian with a troubled face; Brian, for his part, was smiling and quite at ease.
"You see, Brian," he began, "I want to help you very much; I should really feel much happier if you had the money altogether. But then my aunt--_our_ aunt, I should say--has been very good to me, and has never denied me anything. The money I lent you before was hers, and as she--well, as she doesn't----"
"Doesn't like me, you mean," broke in Brian, with a laugh. "Oh, I know that quite well; and I can assure you I haven't the least respect for _her_. What were you going to say?"
"Well, as she doesn't like you, I couldn't, of course, tell her exactly where the money had gone, although she wanted to know. I didn't tell her quite the truth about it, and it made me feel frightfully mean. You know, if the money were my own, you should have as much as you wanted at any time; as it isn't, it doesn't seem quite fair to her, does it?"
"Nonsense! I don't see it in that light at all," replied Brian. "She'll give you anything you like to ask, and she's got plenty, and you have the satisfaction of knowing that you're helping a poor devil to fame and fortune. My dear boy, it'll all be paid back some day, every penny of it; there's not the least doubt about that. I've got my chance now, but I shall lose it, as sure as fate, if I can't get some money. Hang it all, old chap, you wouldn't leave me stranded in Paris without a penny while you live on the fat of the land and drive about in a carriage? You couldn't do it, Comethup; you're not that sort of a fellow."
"But it isn't my money," said Comethup with a groan. "Don't you understand that? I think she ought to know."
"Tell her, then," said Brian, with a short laugh, "and see what'll happen. You know perfectly well that she'll refuse to allow you to give me another penny; you admit she doesn't like me, and she doesn't care whether I go to the dogs or not. What's the use of talking such nonsense as that?"