"In the garden?" I asked.
"But doubtless you point me out the way;" and he took a step towards me. With the movement his cloak slipped from his left shoulder, and I noticed that he was carrying a sword and a pistol in his belt. My hand went back to the handle.
"The few words I have to say to you," said I, "had better be spoken here."
"But it would be best of all," he returned, "to defer them altogether. I have some business with you, it is true, but that business comes second, and I think we shall need no words for its discussion." He took yet another step.
"Your business with me, Mr. Herbert, may come when it will," said I, "but these words cannot be deferred. They are few."
"However few, they are still too many," he broke in. "Out of my way!"
"You must hear them before you pass this door." I gripped the handle tighter.
"I'll not listen to you," he cried. "You overrate my credulity, Mr. Clavering. Out of the way!"
"I will not. This is my house."
"But it shelters my wife."