'I think you'll lose your labour,' Knight returned with decision.
'Naturally you do.' There was a strong accent of bitterness in
Stephen's voice. 'You might have said HOPE instead of THINK,' he
added.
'I might have done no such thing. I gave you my opinion. Elfride
Swancourt may have loved you once, no doubt, but it was when she
was so young that she hardly knew her own mind.'
'Thank you,' said Stephen laconically. 'She knew her mind as well
as I did. We are the same age. If you hadn't interfered----'
'Don't say that--don't say it, Stephen! How can you make out that
I interfered? Be just, please!'
'Well,' said his friend, 'she was mine before she was yours--you
know that! And it seemed a hard thing to find you had got her, and
that if it had not been for you, all might have turned out well
for me.' Stephen spoke with a swelling heart, and looked out of
the window to hide the emotion that would make itself visible upon
his face.
'It is absurd,' said Knight in a kinder tone, 'for you to look at
the matter in that light. What I tell you is for your good. You
naturally do not like to realize the truth--that her liking for
you was only a girl's first fancy, which has no root ever.'
'It is not true!' said Stephen passionately. 'It was you put me
out. And now you'll be pushing in again between us, and depriving
me of my chance again! My right, that's what it is! How ungenerous
of you to come anew and try to take her away from me! When you had
won her, I did not interfere; and you might, I think, Mr.
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