In that moment's dramatic tableau Aldous glanced about swiftly.
The men from the mountain had not returned.

He was alone with Quade and Mortimer FitzHugh.
Then FitzHugh spoke, very quietly, a little laughingly; but his voice trembled, and Aldous knew what the hand was doing in the hunting-coat pocket.
"You're excited, Billy," he said.

"I'm not a liar, as you've very impolitely told me.

And I'm not playing you dirt, and I haven't fallen in love with the lady myself, as you seem to think.

But she belongs to me, body and soul.