current for as long as he could endure
to listen to praise of his pure self-abnegation; proof of how well he had
disguised himself, but it smacked unpleasantly to him. His humourous intimacy
with men's minds likened the source of this distaste to the gallant
all-or-nothing of the gambler, who hates the little when he cannot have the
much, and would rather stalk from the tables clean-picked than suffer ruin to be
tickled by driblets of the glorious fortune he has played for and lost. If we
are not to be beloved, spare us the small coin of compliments on character:
especially when they compliment only our acting. It is partly endurable to win
eulogy for our stately fortitude in losing, but Lætitia was unaware that he
flung away a stake; so she could not praise him for his merits.
    »Willoughby makes the pardoning of Crossjay conditional,« he said, »and the
person pleading for him has to grant the terms. How could you imagine Willoughby
would give her up! How could he! Who! ... He should, is easily said. I was no
witness of the scene between them just now, but I could have foretold the end of
it; I could almost recount the passages. The consequence is, that everything
depends upon the amount of courage she possesses. Dr. Middleton won't leave
Patterne yet. And it is of no use to speak to him to-day. And she is by nature
impatient, and is rendered desperate.«
    »Why is it of no use to speak to Dr. Middleton to-day?« said Lætitia.
    »He drank wine yesterday that did not agree with him; he can't work. To-day
he is looking forward to Patterne Port. He is not likely to listen to any
proposals to leave to-day.«
    »Goodness!«
    »I know the depth of that cry!«
    »You are excluded, Mr. Whitford.«
    »Not a bit of it; I am in with the rest. Say that men are to be exclaimed
at. Men have a right to expect you to know your own mind when you close on a
bargain. You don't know the world or yourselves very well, it's true; still the
original error is on your side, and upon that you should fix your attention. She
brought her father here, and no sooner was he very comfortably established than
she wished to dislocate him.«
    »I cannot explain it; I cannot comprehend it,« said Lætitia.
    »