"
"Have a smoke!" said Bunny with unruffled amiability, proffering his
case.
Jake pushed it from him with a curt sound of dissatisfaction.
"All right. Don't!" said Bunny, with instant haughtiness, and returned it
to his pocket.
He would have withdrawn his hand from his brother-in-law's arm, but Jake
retained it there forcibly, steering for his own private office at the
end of the stable-yard.
Bunny submitted, but his face grew ominously dark as they passed in
silence between the long rows of loose-boxes in the soft spring twilight.
As they neared Jake's room he drew himself together with the action of a
man who braces his muscles for a sudden strain, and in a moment he was
older, less defiant, more dignified.
"That's better," Jake said, making him enter first. "There are times, Sir
Bernard Brian, when I want to lick you, as you never--unfortunately--were
licked in your early youth. Other times--like the present--when the breed
gets the better of me, and I can only stand outside--and admire."
"Oh, don't be a blithering idiot, Jake!" said Bunny in hot discomfiture.
Jake's hand grasped his shoulder. "Sit down, and bring yourself to my
level for a minute! Maybe I am a blithering idiot, maybe I'm not.
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