Though I have had my standard and lived up to
it all my life, I am something of a black sheep. A man stole my
wife. I did not trouble the Law Courts. I killed him."
"I have the blood of generations of lawyers in my veins," Francis
declared, "but I have read many a divorce case in which I think
it would have been better and finer if the two men had met as you
and that man met."
"I was born with the love of fighting in my bones," Sir Timothy
went on. "In my younger days, I fought in every small war in the
southern hemisphere. I fought, as you know, in our own war. I
have loved to see men fight honestly and fairly."
"It is a man's hobby," Francis pronounced.
"I encouraged you deliberately to think," Sir Timothy went on,
"what half the world thinks that--my parties at The Walled House
were mysterious orgies of vice. They have, as a matter of fact,
never been anything of the sort. The tragedies which are
supposed to have taken place on my launch have been just as much
mock tragedies as last night's, only I have not previously chosen
to take the audiences into my confidence. The greatest pugilists
in the world have fought in my gymnasium, often, if you will,
under illegal conditions, but there has never been a fight that
was not fair."
"I believe that," Francis said.
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