Tom Ridout stared a moment in unbelieving amazement, and then blushed to the eyes. "I beg your pardon," he stammered, "I never thought--I didn't dream--" He broke down completely, unable to grasp the statement that shed such a different light upon their idle talk. Boulton was not subject to fluctuation of emotion, and there was no visible manifestation of a change in his feelings. The match he struck while Edward was speaking went out. He reached for another; it also went out. "It seems to me," he said mildly, taking his unlighted pipe from his lips, "that these are the worst matches I ever saw." cheap clarisonicRidout had recovered some of his usual self-assurance. "It seems to me," he declared boldly, "that it's the worst match I ever heard of." "Worst or best," said Edward, with dogged resolution, "it will be necessary for you to speak of it with respect--in my presence." This seemed to be the end of the matter; but Boulton, who had at last got his pipe agoing, could not forbear offering a few final words on the subject. "It's all right, Ned," he remarked, in his gentlest and kindest tones, "perfectly right and natural that a young fellow should make a fool of himself. That's exactly what's expected of him. But it isn't necessary that he should make an everlasting fool of himself. Not--strictly--necessary."