“Certainly,” said Ralph, with great politeness. “Come in, gentlemen--there’s a good fire and enough chairs, I guess.”
He was interested in quickly casting his eye over the marauding group. Six men had followed the constable in hot haste. One of them, who kept close to the officer, seemed to be his assistant. Four men, rough looking and with fiery breaths and faces, Ralph recognized as the group he had seen in the town that afternoon, two of whom had followed him to the lawyer’s house.
The real leader of the party, however, was a man whom Ralph had never seen before. He at once surmised that this was Dorsett. The latter pushed the others aside and stepped up to Ralph insolently.
“Who are you?” he demanded, with a scowl of suspicion and dislike.
“I represent the brother of Mr. Glidden.”
“Oh, you do?” sneered Dorsett. “I thought you was the office boy.”
“Representative, hey?” snapped out the constable quickly. “Stand aside, Mr. Dorsett. This is the very person I wish to see.”
The official made a great ado getting a bundle of papers out of his pocket. He selected one, flopped it open and fixed an imperious eye on Ralph.
“As agent de facto, ex officio, essettery, I present a demand against Henry William Glidden in the penal sum of four thousand one hundred and twenty-seven dollars and ninety-eight cents. Are you authorized to pay the same, deprosedendum, or forever hold your peace.”
“I have one thousand dollars at the home of the lawyer,” explained Ralph.