Dunton: “He will not come—he dare not come!”
Second: “There is yet time. He may arrive at the last moment.”
Dunton: “He is a coward, from a race of cowards. He poses as a gentleman, but the blood of a craven flows in his veins.”
These words were spoken with an intensity and double significance that Frank, waiting in the wings, did not miss.
Second: “The time is nearly up.”
Dunton: “Yes.”—Looks at his watch.—“There is but one minute more. He will fail to appear, and when next we meet, I will brand him as the cur he is.”
Second: “You will come out of this affair honorably without danger to yourself.”
Dunton: “Danger! Bah! What danger would there be to face him! I would toy with him—play with him as a cat plays with a mouse. I would let him see that he was completely at my mercy. I would laugh at his clumsy efforts, and then, when I had tired of the sport, I would run him through the heart! But I shall not have that pleasure.”—Closes watch with a snap.—“The time is up, and he is not here.”
(Frank enters, followed by his second, with weapons in case.)
Frank: “You are wrong, sir; I am here!”