Itookitinadream。“Thishasbeenadevilofabusiness。”saidI。
“Don’tthinkhardofMamie。”hepleaded。“It’sthewayshe’smade；it’sherhigh-tonedloyalty。AndofcourseIknowit’sallright。Iknowyoursterlingcharacter；butyoudidn’t，somehow，makeouttogiveusthethingstraight，Loudon。Anybodymighthave——Imeanit——Imean——“
“Nevermindwhatyoumean，mypoorJim。”saidI。“She’sagallantlittlewomanandaloyalwife：andIthoughthersplendid。Mystorywasasfishyasthedevil。I’llneverthinkthelessofeitherheroryou。”
“It’llblowover；itmustblowover。”saidhe。
“Itnevercan。”Ireturned，sighing：“anddon’tyoutrytomakeit！Don’tnameme，unlessit’swithanoath。Andgethometoherrightaway。Goodby，mybestoffriends。Goodby，andGodblessyou。Weshallnevermeetagain。”