'Higgs,' said the steward, as he clutched the key. 'I have been a good friend to you and yours; are you joining with the rest against me?'
Shady, raising his eyebrows, looked at him without answering.
'I say, are you going to turn against me?' he repeated.
'Not that I am aware of,' said Shady.
'You'll all know better some day.'
'That I believe, in most things. For myself, I hope it sincerely; but in this particular I do not quite see your meaning.'
'Yes, you do; you don't take me in with your mock simplicity. You know how I've helped you, and your grandmother before you.'
'I am no mocker, Mr. Bloodworth,' said Shady with dignity; 'and I deny that you have ever helped me; how you helped my grandmother Elizabeth you best know.'
'Ah! there it is, there's the gratitude I get,' said Bloodworth, who felt that Shady was in no spirit to be tampered with. 'I wish I'd never seen one of your name!' he growled, as he was leaving the apartment.
'Mr. Bloodworth,' said Shady, with a slight cough, 'you'll excuse my calling you back, but I should be sorry to forget my duty, through any natural rising of the heart against your very unmerited and unexpected attack, and therefore, in order to save you unnecessary trouble, may I ask whether you require that key for the same purposes which induced you to demand it before?'