"And when you hev found out and you're settled in your mind that you kin make my mind easy about this yer Lou Price, ez we'll call her, bein' divorced squarely, and bein', so to speak, in the way o' gettin' married agin, ye might let me know ez a friend.

I reckon I won't trouble you any more to-night--onless you and me takes another sociable drink together in the bar.

No?
Well, then, good-night." He moved slowly towards the door.

With his hand on the lock he added: "Ef yer writin' to her agin, you might say ez how you found ME lookin' well and comf'able, and hopin' she's enjyin' the same blessin'.

'So long." He disappeared, leaving the master in a hopeless collapse of conflicting, and, it is to be feared, not very heroic emotions.
The situation, which had begun so dramatically, had become suddenly unromantically ludicrous, without, however, losing any of its embarrassing quality.