Nor do I believe either
would, of himself, ever have been. Our likings and dislikings always
hitherto had gone together, and, left to themselves, would have done so
always, I believe; whence it seems probable that, left to ourselves, we
should also have found, when required, a common strength of abnegation.
But in the present case, our feelings were not left to themselves; the
lady gave the initiative, and the dividing regard was born in the one,
and had time to establish itself, ere the provoking influence was brought
to bear on the other.
"Within the last few years I have had a visit from an old companion of
the period. I daresay you will remember the German gentleman who amused
you with the funny way in which he pronounced certain words--one of the
truest-hearted and truest-tongued men I have ever known: he gave me much
unexpected insight into the evil affair. He had learned certain things
from a sister, the knowledge of which, old as the story they concerned by
that time was, chiefly moved his coming to England to find me.
"One evening, he told me, when a number of the ladies we were in the
habit of meeting happened to be together without any gentleman present,
the talk turned, half in a philosophical, half in a gossipy spirit, upon
the consequences that might follow, should two men, bound in such strange
fashion as my brother and I, fall in love with the same woman--a thing
not merely possible, but to be expected.
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