I must see her no more." "Very well, old boy," said Hawbury.

"Now speak Chinese a little for variety.

I'll understand you quite as well.

I will, by Jove!" "And then, for a fellow that's had an experience like mine--before and since," continued Dacres, still speaking in the tone of one who was meditating aloud--"to allow such an idea even for a moment to take shape in his brain! What an utter, unmitigated, unmanageable, and unimprovable idiot, ass, dolt, and blockhead! Confound such a man! I say; confound him!" [Illustration: "CONFOUND SUCH A MAN! I SAY."] And as Dacres said this he brought his fist down upon the table near him with such an energetic crash that a wine-flask was sent spinning on the floor, where its ruby contents splashed out in a pool, intermingled with fragments of glass.
Dacres was startled by the crash, and looked at it for a while in silence.

Then he raised his head and looked at his friend.