call it, with any one," retorted Hench coldly.
"Not with Zara?" Spruce could not help giving his friend the dig.
"That is my business."
"I never suggested otherwise. But I would point out that Madame Alpenny's resolve to consider your marriage proposition favourably is due to me. Had I not guided the conversation as I did, she would never have remembered her meeting with your father. It is the romance of that which has inclined her to permit your wooing."
"Madame Alpenny would have remembered without your help."
"I think not. You have been here along with her for six months and have had endless conversations. But until I made a third----"
"An inconvenient third."
"Oh, as you will. But until I made a third, she did not recollect the adventure of her youth which has softened her towards you. This being the case, I don't see why you should hold me at arm's length."
"I am not taking the trouble to consider you in any way," said Hench in his most freezing manner. "We were never chums at school, and I see nothing in you to make me more friendly now. It is true that you offered to help me with money, but as I don't require your help in that way, I lie under no obligation to you. Why the dickens can't you go back to the West End?"
"I shall go back," lied Spruce, "when I gather sufficient material for my proposed book. Meanwhile, my friend----"
"Meanwhile," repeated Hench, cutting him short, "suppose you mind your own business and leave mine alone."
"Had I left your business alone, Madame Alpenny would not now be so agreeable to you, old fellow," said Spruce, persistently polite. "However, since you object, I shall meddle no more. All the same, if I can do you a good turn I am perfectly willing to do so."
"Don't be worthy and pose as a bed-rock Christian!"
"I'm sure I don't know what you mean," sighed the little man, who knew perfectly well what was implied; "but as you are bent upon making yourself
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