Sue is his favourite author, and I believe that he has exceedingly
grim ideas as to duelling and fighting generally. He was in prison
once for six months at New Orleans for killing a man who insulted
my mother. Nothing in the world would ever have convinced him that
he had not done a perfectly legitimate thing."
"I am expecting to find him quite an interesting study, when I
know him better," Francis pronounced. "My only fear is that he
will count me an unfriendly person and refuse to have anything to
do with me."
"I am not at all sure," she said indifferently, "that it would
not be very much better for you if he did."
"I cannot admit that," he answered, smiling. "I think that our
paths in life are too far apart for either of us to influence the
other. You don't share his tastes, do you?"
"Which ones?" she asked, after a moment's silence.
"Well, boxing for one," he replied. "They tell me that he is the
greatest living patron of the ring, both here and in America."
"I have never been to a fight in my life," she confessed. "I
hope that I never may."
"I can't go so far as that," he declared, "but boxing isn't
altogether one of my hobbies. Can't we leave your father and
his tastes alone for the present? I would rather talk about
--ourselves. Tell me what you care about most in life?"
"Nothing," she answered listlessly.
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