"Don't you dare to threaten me, you swinehound," he roared.
"Go to blazes!" I answered in much the same tone. "Who the devil are you to come blustering in here in this way? I'm on Baron von Gratzen's business, not yours; I've no instructions to show his papers to any and every boorish clown who dares to ask for them. If you want to see them, telegraph to him, and when he instructs me to tell you his business I'll do it, and not before."
I fired this at him with all my lung power and tried to look even more angry than I felt, and shouted him down when he tried to interrupt me once or twice.
He cursed volubly.
"If you don't behave yourself I'll have you put out of the carriage," I cried. "Do you imagine that Baron von Gratzen sent his confidential secretary to secure this compartment for me and this lady that we might be insulted by such a foul-mouthed brute as you? Ask your questions civilly, and I'll answer them; but don't imagine you can bully me."
That his three companions relished all this was apparent in their looks; but the effect on the bully himself was a sheer delight to witness. He tried to bluster, but he was frightened. The sting of my attack was the reference to von Welten's reservation of the compartment, and I promptly drove it home by asking Freibach to have the guard called.
He hesitated; the other man was his superior officer, of course, and looked to him. "He'll be able to confirm what I say," I added.
The major nodded and nothing more passed until the guard arrived.
"Who saw these people off at Berlin?"
"Herr von Welten, sir, and he told me that the compartment was to be strictly reserved for them by Baron von Gratzen's orders. I explained that the train was sure to be full; but he said that under no conditions was I to allow any one to enter it."