The poor man's state was indeed such as to move compassion. Besides his
old friend Lady Attlebridge's dumbly accusing eyes, besides Fanny's and
Lady Richard's by no means dumb reproaches, a very heavy blow had fallen
on him. In the words of his own complaint, his brother Jimmy had gone
back on him--and back on his allegiance to Alexander Quisante. The
engagement was too much for Jimmy, and in the revulsion of feeling he
became downright hostile to Quisante's claims and pretensions. How could
he not when Fanny Gaston imperiously and almost tearfully commanded him
to attach himself to her banner, and to behold with her eyes the
indignity suffered by the noble family of Gaston? Logic was not Jimmy's
strong point, and he confounded poor Dick by the twofold assertion that
the thing was utterly incredible, and that Dick and he had been most
inconceivably idiotic not to have foreseen it from the first hour that
they took up Quisante. In this stress of feeling the brothers spoke to
one another with candour.
"You know how I feel about Fanny," said Jimmy, "so you can imagine how
much I like it.
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