[_Changing his position and unbending._] But tell me! I don't know yet what you have to say to me about Madame de Chaumie--but why should you find it embarrassing to speak of her to me? [_Gently._] We're men of the world, you and I; and it isn't the rule of life that the prize always goes to the most deserving. [_With animation._] "And in the world, as in the school, I'd say, how fate may change and shift; The prize be sometimes with the fool, The race not always to the swift. The strong may yield, the good may fall, The great man be a vulgar clown, The knave be lifted over all, The kind cast pitilessly down." So sang one of the noblest gentlemen who have ever followed my calling! [_There is a brief silence, and then_ SIR TIMOTHY _rises abruptly and walks to the fireplace._ PHILIP _looks after him, perplexed._ SIR TIMOTHY. [_Facing the fire._] Mr. Mackworth---- PHILIP. Eh? SIR TIMOTHY. I saw Bertram Filson last night--her brother. PHILIP. [_Pricking up his ears._] You did? Where? SIR TIMOTHY. At the club--the Junior Somerset. He came in late, looking a bit out of gear, and ate a mouthful of dinner and drank a whole bottle of Pommery; and afterwards he joined me in the smoking-room and--and was exceedingly communicative. PHILIP. [_Attentively._] Oh? SIR TIMOTHY. I didn't encourage him to babble--[_turning_] 'twas he that insisted on confiding to me what had occurred---- PHILIP. Occurred? SIR TIMOTHY. That you and Madame de Chaumie had had a serious difference, and that there's small prospect of its being bridged over. PHILIP. [_Glaring._] Oh, he confided _that_ to you, did he, Sir Timothy? SIR TIMOTHY. He did. PHILIP. [_Rising and pacing up and down on the left._] And what the devil does Filson mean by gossiping about me at a club--me and my relations with Madame de Chaumie! SIR TIMOTHY. [_Advancing a little._] Ah, don't be angry! The champagne he'd drunk had loosened his tongue. And then, I'm a friend of the family---- PHILIP. Infernal puppy! SIR TIMOTHY. Referring to _Filson_? PHILIP. Of course. Sir Timothy. [_Mildly._] Well, whether young Filson's a puppy or not, _now_ perhaps you begin to appreciate my motive for intruding on you? PHILIP. [_Halting._] Hardly. SIR TIMOTHY.