Sampayo was a big brute, much bigger than I, and had once possessed great strength; but during his years of comfort and wealth, fat had taken the place of a good deal of his muscle. He had, however, retained the air of bullying masterfulness and he now tried to bully me.
“You have not been frank with me, Mr. Donnington,” he said as he sat down. “I don’t suppose you wished purposely to mislead me, but you did so in fact. You said that after the relief of Mafeking you did not see any more of the war.”
“No, no, pardon me. I said I was sent down country.”
“Well, that’s much the same thing, sir; whereas, from what you have told Mademoiselle Dominguez it is clear that you went up country again and were there at the end of things. You meant me to infer the opposite, and I must ask you for your reasons.”
At his hectoring tone I turned and looked him full in the eyes, and then turned away again with a shrug of the shoulders, giving him no other reply.
“You heard me, Mr. Donnington.”
I took out my watch, glanced at the time, and replaced it in my pocket very deliberately, and yawned.
“I have asked you a question, sir, and I mean to have an answer.”
I paused and looked at him again more deliberately than before. “Is it possible that you are addressing me?”
“Certainly I am addressing you,” he said with an angry twist of the head.