"I beg your pardon, Mr.Joy," he said; "I do remember, but for a minute I did not." "I don't wonder," said Granville, and again he repeated, "There are so many of us," in that sullen, bitter tone.
"What is the matter with the fellow ?" thought Robert; but he said, civilly enough; "Oh, not at all, Mr.Joy.I will admit there are a good many of you, as you say, but that would not prevent my remembering a man to whom I was speaking only a few hours ago.

It was only the half-light, and I did not expect to see you here." "Mr.Joy is a very old friend of mine," Ellen said, quickly, with a painful impulse of loyalty.

The moment she saw her old school-boy lover intimidated, and manifestly at a disadvantage before this elegant young gentleman, she felt a fierce instinct of partisanship.
She stood a little nearer to him.

Granville's face lightened, he looked at her gratefully, and Robert stared from one to the other doubtfully.

He began to wonder if he had interrupted a love-scene, and was at once pained with a curious, new pain, and indignant.
Then, too, he scarcely knew what to do.