Diggle scowled, and stood as though meditating resistance. "Come, come, Mr. Diggle, you have no choice. I do not wish to have to drag you; it might cause you pain." "Surely you will spare a moment to an old friend! I fear you are entirely mistaken. ’Tis pity that with the natural ebullition of your youthful spirit you should have set upon a man whom----" "You can talk as we go, Mr. Diggle, if you talk low enough. Must I repeat it?" "But where are we going? Really, Mr. Burke, respect for my years should prompt a more considerate treatment." "You see yonder point?" said Desmond impatiently--"yonder on the shore. You will come with me there." Diggle looked round as if hoping that even now something might happen in his favour. But no one was in sight; Desmond stood over him with sword still drawn; and recognizing his helplessness the man at length turned towards the shore and began to walk slowly along, Desmond a foot or so in the rear. "’Twas a most strange chance, surely," he said, "that brought you to this spot at the very moment when I was shaking the dust of Gheria from my feet. How impossible it is to escape the penalty of one’s wrong-doing! Old Horace knew it: ’Raro antecedentem scelestum’--you remember the rest. Mr. Burslem drubbed our Latin into us, Mr. Burke. I am a fellow-townsman of yours, though you did not know it: ay, a boy in your old school, switched by your old master. I have treated you badly. I admit it; but what could I do? Your brother slandered you; I see now how he deceived me; he wished you out of his way. Here I acted under pressure of Angria; he was bent on sending you to Bombay; I could not defy him; I was wrong; what you said when I saw you last made a deep impression on me; I repented, and, as Tully, I think, puts it, ’a change of plan is the best harbour to a penitent man.’ I was indeed seeking that refuge of the repentant, and altering my whole plan of life; and if you will but tarry a moment----" "Keep on, Mr. Diggle," said Desmond, as the man, who had been talking over his shoulder, half-stopped: "my point is sharp."