E. F. Benson

“ To the world's view this is a matter of infinitesimal moment—wild oats are a recognised and even creditable crop; but to Dick they were otherwise, and to Madge it appeared, in the first rosy blush of a girl's love, quite unspeakably otherwise. And at that thought temptation gripped him by the throat. What could be easier than to encourage Jim to tell her the true story of the days he had spent in Paris? From his own conscience's standpoint the thing ought to be told; from his own conscience's standpoint also a grave stain rested on his friend. ”

“ He, like Madge herself, had certain ideas, old-fashioned, maybe, but to him (and, it would seem, to her) convincing, about the sort of life which it behoved men not less than women to lead. A deviation from it, if such deviation amounted to a changed course and habit of life and thought, constituted an unworthiness, and in this regard he considered that Jim was entirely unworthy of her. ”

“ She laughed. "Now, I don't want to degrade anybody this morning," she said. "I suppose happiness makes one unselfish—at least, that has always been a pet theory of yours."
Dick did not swear either above or below his breath, and the attention of the recording angel is hereby called to it. Neither had he much time to do so, for Madge went on almost immediately.
"Anyhow, your theory holds about Jim and me," she said. "Last night we both found that we had been talking about nothing but you. It was odd."
"Very odd," said Dick. ”

“ Nearer at hand plants with their many-angled leaves and clustered buds stood glistening, as if with fresh paint, in the morning glow, and on the weedless grass beneath them pigeons of undieted corpulence patrolled busily for food with inarticulate cooings of content. ”

“ If loyalty to his friend pulled strongly in one direction, did not justice—the bare justice, that is, that cries out against a grievous error being made when a word can save it—pull no less strongly in the other? ”

“ The longest-living author of this work died in 1940, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 82 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works. ”