The doctor's wife answered softly: "I don't understand it." After a
glance at her husband, she took Iris by the hand: "Dear Miss Henley,
shall we retire to my room?"
Iris drew her hand away. "Not unless Mr. Mountjoy wishes it," she said.
"Certainly not!" Hugh declared. "Pray remain here; your presence will
help me to keep my temper." He stepped up to Mr. Vimpany. "Have you any
particular reason for opening that door?" he asked.
The doctor was a rascal; but, to do him justice, he was no coward.
"Yes," he said, "I have a reason."
"What is it, if you please?"
"Christian forbearance," Mr. Vimpany answered.
"Forbearance towards me?" Mountjoy continued.
The doctor's dignity suddenly deserted him.
"Aha, my boy, you have got it at last!" he cried. "It's pleasant to
understand each other, isn't it? You see, I'm a plain-spoken fellow; I
don't wish to give offence. If there's one thing more than another I
pride myself on, it's my indulgence for human frailty. But, in my
position here, I'm obliged to be careful. Upon my soul, I can't
continue my acquaintance with a man who--oh, come! come! don't look as
if you didn't understand me. The circumstances are against you, sir.
You have treated me infamously."
"Under what circumstances have I treated you infamously?" Hugh asked.
"Under pretence of giving me a dinner," Mr. Vimpany shouted--"the worst
dinner I ever sat down to!"
His wife signed to him to be silent. He took no notice of her. She
insisted on being understood. "Say no more!" she warned him, in a tone
of command.
The brute side of his nature, roused by Mountjoy's contemptuous
composure, was forcing its way outwards; he set his wife at defiance.
"Then don't let him look at me as if he thought I was in a state of
intoxication!" cried the furious doctor. "There's the man, Miss, who
tried to make me tipsy," he went on, actually addressing himself to
Iris. "Thanks to my habits of sobriety, he has been caught in his own
trap. He's intoxicated. Ha, friend Mountjoy, have you got the right
explanation at last? There's the door, sir!"
Mrs. Vimpany felt that this outrage was beyond endurance. If something
was not done to atone for it, Miss Henley would be capable--her face,
at that moment, answered for her--of leaving the house with Mr.
Mountjoy. Mrs. Vimpany seized her husband indignantly by the arm.