"Love me?" exclaimed the other passionately: "no. How could I expect it? She was a mere child, budding into maidenhood; but her eyes brightened when I came, and she was my little companion here in the happy days that can never be recalled. James Huish, I loved that girl with all my soul. My love has grown for her, and my first thought was to seek her on my return, and try to win her for my wife." "It's deuced unfortunate, Rob," said the other in his nervous way. Then, with a kind of bravado, he continued half laughingly: "But then, you see, you have been away two years, and you have stopped away too long. It's a pity, too, such friends as we were." Ere he had finished speaking his companion had seized his arm as in a vice. "Huish!" he cried hoarsely, "if you speak to me in that tone of voice I will not answer for the consequences. I do not wish to be rash, or to condemn you unheard; but this is of such vital import to me that, by God, if you speak of it in that flippant tone again, I shall forget that we are gentlemen, and, like some brute beast, I shall have you by the throat." "Loose my arm," exclaimed the other, flushing more deeply; "you hurt me." "You hurt me," cried the other, trembling with passion--"to the heart." "If I have wronged you," exclaimed Huish, "even if duelling is out of fashion, I can give you satisfaction." "Satisfaction!" cried the other bitterly. "Look here, James Huish. You have been a man of fashion, while I have been a blunt soldier. If what I hear be true, would it be any satisfaction for me to shoot you through the head, and break that poor girl's heart, for I could do it if I liked; and if I did not, would it be any satisfaction to let you make yourself a murderer?" Huish shuddered slightly, and the colour paled in his cheeks. "Now answer my question. I say, is this true?" "We are old friends," retorted Huish, "but you have no right to question me." "Right or no right, I will question you," exclaimed the other passionately, "and answer me you shall before you leave this spot." Huish glanced uneasily to the right and left, and, seeing this, his companion laid his hand once more upon his arm. "No," he exclaimed, "you do not go; and for your own sake, do not provoke me." The speaker's voice trembled with rage, which he seemed to be fighting hard to control, while Huish was by turns flushed with anger, and pale with something near akin to fear. "I will not answer your questions," he exclaimed desperately.