This actually made Elmer perk up. He wasn't in love with Selwyn, but he wouldn't want to lose him as a lover. He was one of the most experienced men he knew and while Elmer could survive sleeping with just women, he liked the different sort of experience he had with men. He also often paid for nicer things, like opioids.

"I wouldn't, and you know that!" Elmer complained. "He provoked me first! Your brothers aren't brutes that go around Bartonburg seeking to beat up people!" He took a drag from his cigarette but quickly exhaled so he could add: "What I said was stupid and crude and I would never have said it if Reuben Crouch wasn't the recipient! He acts holier than thou when he's the one constantly ruining girls from good families! He didn't seem to mind fucking Bella Scrimgeour or his wife or my cousin, did he?"