"Lord, no! Why, I should be so damned elated that before the day was out there'd be a score of fresh debts staring me in the face!"
"Let me lend you a thousand to begin on? Could you not keep out of debt?"
"I keep out of debt? Impossible! Don't look so solemn, Dick; I told you 'twas in the blood. We never have a penny to bless ourselves with, but what's the odds? I shall have a run of luck soon-a man can't always lose. Then I shall be able to repay you, but, of course, I shan't. It'll all go at the next table. I know!" He spoke so ingenuously that Richard could not be angry with him. There was a certain frankness about him that pleased, and though he might be spendthrift and heedless, and colossally selfish, Richard felt a genuine affection for him. He would have liked to argue the point further, but Lavinia came forward, refolding her letter.
"Tracy is coming to-morrow afternoon," she told her husband. "'Twill be prodigiously agreeable, will it not?"
He assented, but with a lack of warmth that did not fail to strike her ears.
"And he will stay to dine with us!" she cried challengingly.
"Certainly, my love."
"Look pleased, Dicky, look pleased! Why don't you like Tracy? He is my own brother; you must like him!"
"Of course I like him, Lavinia. Pray, do not be foolish."
"Oh, I am not! Don't be cross, Dicky dear!"
"Well, if you like him, I'm surprised," broke in Andrew. "I can't bear him! Ay, flash your eyes at me, Lavvy; I don't mind."
Lavinia opened her mouth to retaliate, but Richard hastily interposed. Their bickering was more than he could bear, and he never understood how Lavinia could stoop to quarrel with the boisterous youth, who tried so palpably to rouse her.
He bore them both off to the house, feeling much like a nursemaid with two recalcitrant children.