I forgot the advice I had received, and remembered only the months he had
goaded me. And I was even beginning to speculate how I could best pick a
quarrel with him on any issue but politics, when an unexpected incident
diverted me. Of a sudden the tall, ungainly form of Percy Singleton
filled the doorway, wrapped in a greatcoat. He swept the room at a
glance, and then strode rapidly toward the corner where I sat.

"I had thought to find you here," he said, and dropped into a chair
beside me. I offered him wine, but he refused.

"Now," he went on, "what has Patty done?"

"What have I done that I should be publicly insulted?" I cried.

"Insulted!" says he, "and did she insult you? She said nothing of that."

"What brings you here, then?" I demanded.

"Not to talk, Richard," he said quietly, "'tis no time tonight. I came
to fetch you home. Patty sent me."

Patty sent him! Why had Patty sent him? But this I did not ask, for I
felt the devil within me.

"We must first finish this bottle," said I, offhand, "and then I have a
little something to be done which I have set my heart upon. After that I
will go with you."

"Richard, Richard, will you never learn prudence? What is it you speak