For several reasons, some of which he hardly understood, he did not want to leave Chellaston; but he had no intention of ruining his brother.

It annoyed him that Robert should seriously propose to retire, and more, that he should let jokes and laughter fall on the heels of such a proposal.

He did not know that there are hours to some men, coming not in the heat of party conflict, but in the quiet of daily life, when martyrdom would be easy, and any sacrifice short of martyrdom is mere play.

And because he did not know this, he did not believe in it, just as the average man does not.

His cogitation, however, was not on such abstruse matters, nor was it long, but its result was not insignificant.
"Put your money into it," he said, "and fight it out! Put part of my money into it, if you like, and let us fight it out together." Perhaps the sentiment that actuated the suggestion, even as concerned part of his own inheritance, was nothing more than pugilistic; the idea, however, came to Robert Trenholme as entirely a new one.