We can get on better if you stick to the facts." The words came slowly, but the enunciation was as perfect as if each syllable had been parted with a knife.

"I didn't give him shelter--I gave him a home--one you denied him.

But go on--I prefer to hear you out." The colonel's eyes blazed.

He had never seen St.George like this: it was Temple's hot outbursts that had made him so easy an adversary in their recent disputes.
"And you will please do the same, St.George," he demanded in his most top-lofty tone, ignoring his opponent's denial.

"You know perfectly well I turned him out of Moorlands because he had disgraced his blood, and yet you--my life-long friend--have had the bad taste to interfere and drag him down still lower, so that now, instead of coming to his senses and asking my pardon, he parades himself at the club and at your dinners, putting on the airs of an injured man." St.George drew himself up to his full height.
"Let us change the subject, Talbot, or we will both forget ourselves.
If you have anything to say to me that will benefit Harry and settle the difficulty between him and you, I will meet you more than half-way, but I give you fair warning that the apology must come from you.