It was evident that he wanted to be going, but
was reluctant to leave me there. For my part, I frequently rose to
go, but on getting a sign from D'Arcy that he wished me to stay I sat
down again. At last D'Arcy said,
'You had better go now, De Castro, you have kept that hansom outside
for more than an hour and a half; and besides, if you stay till
daylight our friend here will stay longer, for I want to talk with
him alone.'
De Castro got up with a laugh that seemed genuine enough, and left
us.
D'Arcy, who was still on the sofa, then lapsed into a silence that
became after a while rather awkward. He lay there, gazing
abstractedly at the fireplace.
'Some of my friends call me, as you heard De Castro say the other
night, Haroun-al-Raschid, and I suppose I am like him in some things.
I am a bad sleeper, and to be amused by De Castro when I can't sleep
is the chief of blessings. De Castro, however, is not so bad as he
seems. A man may be a scandal-monger without being really malignant.
I have known him go out of his way to do a struggling man a service.
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