"If," said he, "I could persuade Sir Winterton to give Mr. Quisante a
private assurance that the scandal is entirely baseless, would Mr.
Quisante state publicly that he was convinced of its falsity and did not
wish it to influence the electors in any way?"
"Perhaps he would," said Jimmy.
"I think it would be only the proper thing for him to do," said the Dean
rather warmly.
"I don't know about that. Why can't Mildmay say it for himself? But I'll
ask Quisante, if you like."
The Dean was only too conscious of the weakness of his cause; he became
humble again in thanking Jimmy for this small promise. "And Mr.
Quisante'll be glad to have done it, I know, whatever the issue of the
fight may be," he ended. The remark received for answer no more than a
smile from Jimmy. Jimmy was not sure that among the stress of emotions
filling Quisante's heart in case of defeat there would be room for any
consoling consciousness of moral rectitude. Perhaps Jimmy himself would
not care much about such a solatium. He wanted to win and he wanted
Quisante to win; such was the effect of being much with Quisante; and in
this matter at least, so far as Jimmy's knowledge went, his champion had
acted with perfect correctness.
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