"It is on my side," said John Dixon gravely.
"I have bound myself, Mr. Dixon, and am therefore free to warn you that you must cease from persecuting Charlotte with your addresses. I speak in her name."
"Not true, Fox; you speak in your own. Why, if she herself uttered those words to me I should not believe they came from her heart; I should know that you forced her to speak them. But there is no fear of anything of that sort occurring. Charlotte and I understand each other; and, oppressed and ground down as she has been in your house, she has a higher courage than you give her credit for. I am proud of having won her love, and I will make her a happy woman, as truly as I stand here. However, it is not to tell you what you already know that I have come to see you; it is for a different reason altogether."
"You speak defiantly, Mr. Dixon. It is not the way to conciliate me."
"Conciliate you! I am not such an ass as to try. I will try my own way. If I can manage it, you shall fear me."
"If you can manage it!" said Mr. Fox-Cordery, a little uneasy at his visitor's confident tone. "Yes, if you can manage it. I should imagine you will find it a difficult task. If you think you can frighten me by your bullying you are mistaken."
"Oh! I don't want to frighten you. I am going to play my cards openly, knowing perfectly well that you will not expose one of yours. Shall we proceed to business?"
"Say what you have to say," exclaimed Mr. Fox-Cordery blandly, "and the devil take you!"
John Dixon laughed.
"When you speak softly, Fox, you are most deadly. It was just the same when you, I, and Robert Grantham were at school together in the country. Poor Bob! What a careless, reckless, generous fellow he was! What a tool he was in your hands, and how you worked him and played upon him!"