was afraid of the blind fury with which Davenant's mere presence
inspired him. While he expressed this fury to himself in epithets of
scorn, he was aware, too, that there were shades of animosity in it for
which he had no ready supply of terms. Such exclamatory fragments as
forced themselves up through the troubled incoherence of his thoughts
were of the nature of "damned American," "vulgar Yankee," "insolent
bounder," rendering but inadequately the sentiments of a certain kind of
Englishman toward his fancied typical American, a crafty Colossus who
accomplishes everything by money and brutal strength. Had there been
nothing whatever to create a special antagonism between them, Ashley's
feeling toward Davenant would still have been that of a civilized
Jack-the-Giant-Killer toward a stupendous, uncouth foe. It would have
had elements in it of fear, jealousy, even of admiration, making at its
best for suspicion and neutrality, and at its worst for.... But Davenant
spoke again.

"I'd a great deal rather, Colonel, that--"

The very sound of his voice, with its harsh consonants and its absurd
repetitions of the military title, grated insufferably on Ashley's ear.
He was beyond himself although he seemed cool.

"My good fellow, I don't care a hang what you'd a great deal rather."

Ashley lit a fresh cigarette with the end of the old one, throwing the
stump into the river almost across Davenant's face, as the latter walked
the nearer to the railing.

The American turned slightly and looked down. The action, taken in
conjunction with his height and size and his refusal to be moved,
intensified Ashley's rage, which began now to round on himself. Even the
monotonous tramp-tramp of their footsteps, as the Embankment became more
deserted, got on his nerves. It was long before Davenant made a new
attempt to fulfil his mission.

"In saying what I said just now," he began, in what he tried to make a
reasonable tone, "I've no ax to grind for myself. If Miss Guion--"

"We'll leave that name out," Ashley cried, sharply. "Only a damned cad
would introduce it."

Though the movement with which Davenant swung his left arm through the
darkness and with the back of his left hand struck Ashley on the mouth
was so sudden as to surprise no one more than himself, it came with all
the cumulative effect of twenty-four hours' brooding. The same might be
said of the spring with which Ashley bounded on his adversary. It had
the agility and str