"Heaven alone knows
how long it will last. I've never scored over you before, but on this
occasion--" He stopped with a careless wave of the hand.
"Yes," Jake said. "On this occasion--you've got me beat. But--I didn't
fight for my own sake, nor yet for the off chance of downing you, which I
own would have given me considerable pleasure once. It was for the
child's sake." An unwonted note of entreaty suddenly sounded in his
voice. "I don't know what your game is, my lord; but she's yours now--to
make--or break. For God's sake--be decent to her--if you can!"
"If I can!" Saltash clapped a sudden hand upon Jake's shoulder, but
though the action was obviously a kindly one, it held restraint as well.
"Do you think I don't know how to make a woman happy, Jake? Think I
haven't studied the subject hard enough? Think I'm a fool at the game?"
Jake looked him straight in the face. "No. I don't think you a fool, my
lord," he said. "But I reckon there's one or two things that even you may
have to learn. You've never yet made any woman permanently happy. There's
only one way of doing that. Bunny would have done it--and won out too.
But you--I'm not so sure of you."
"Oh, Bunny would have won out, would he?" Saltash's hand closed like a
trap upon Jake's shoulder.
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