I won't corrupt you!' 'Of course not,' said De Stancy, as if ashamed of what his objection implied.

'You are not corrupt enough yourself to do that, I should hope.' The cards were dealt and they began to play--Captain De Stancy abstractedly, and with his eyes mostly straying out of the window upon the large yew, whose boughs as they moved were distorted by the old green window-panes.
'It is better than doing nothing,' said Dare cheerfully, as the game went on.

'I hope you don't dislike it ?' 'Not if it pleases you,' said De Stancy listlessly.
'And the consecration of this place does not extend further than the aisle wall.' 'Doesn't it ?' said De Stancy, as he mechanically played out his cards.
'What became of that box of books I sent you with my last cheque ?' 'Well, as I hadn't time to read them, and as I knew you would not like them to be wasted, I sold them to a bloke who peruses them from morning till night.

Ah, now you have lost a fiver altogether--how queer! We'll double the stakes.

So, as I was saying, just at the time the books came I got an inkling of this important business, and literature went to the wall.' 'Important business--what ?' 'The capture of this lady, to be sure.' De Stancy sighed impatiently.