The chairman, his sense of drama secretly tickled, answered with greater pomp and hauteur than were necessary.
"You mistake me, sir! I, not you, am master here. You are addressing the chairman of the prison board. I must say, moreover, that I deem your activity a menace to the welfare of the prisoners, and must request your resignation. Henceforth Dr. Jones will be in charge, and if you wish to remain until your formal dismissal you will take your orders from him."
It was Wilfred Jones's great moment. Life never gave him another such climax, and we need not grudge him this one. After all he was a small rather than a bad man, and he had only obeyed a small man's code of looking to himself at all costs. Clarendon stood still, gazing at the speaker as if he thought him mad, till in another second the look of triumph on Dr. Jones's face convinced him that something important was indeed afoot. He was icily courteous as he replied.
"No doubt you are what you claim to be, sir. But fortunately my appointment came from the governor of the state, and can therefore be revoked only by him."
The chairman and his nephew both stared perplexedly, for they had not realized to what lengths unworldly ignorance can go. Then the older man, grasping the situation, explained at some length.
"Had I found that the current reports did you an injustice," he concluded, "I would have deferred action; but the case of this poor man and your own arrogant manner left me no choice. As it is——"
But Dr. Clarendon interrupted with a new razor-sharpness in his voice.
"As it is, I am the director in charge at present, and I ask you to leave this room at once."
The chairman reddened and exploded.
"Look here, sir, who do you think you're talking to? I'll have you chucked out of here—damn your impertinence!"