And while he spoke, he placed one hand within the breast of his coat, and held it there. Quick as was the motion, it was not sudden enough to escape the flashing eye of Roland, who sprang upon him, and seized his wrist with a grasp that nearly jammed the bones together.
“Provoke me a little further,” cried he, “and, by Heaven! I 'll not give you the choice or chance of safety, but hurl you from that window as I would the meanest housebreaker.”
“Let me free,—let me loose, sir,” said Linton, in a low weak voice, which passion, not fear, had reduced to a mere whisper. “You shall have the satisfaction you aim at, when and how you please.”
“By daylight to-morrow, at the boat-quay beside the lake.”
“Agreed. There is no need of witnesses,—we understand each other.”
“Be it so. Be true to your word, and none shall hear from me the reasons of our meeting, nor what has occurred here this night.”
“I care not if all the world knew it,” said Linton, insolently; “I came in quest of a lost document,—one which I had my reasons to suspect had fallen into your possession.”
“And of whose forgery I have the proofs,” said Cashel, as opening the deed, he held it up before Linton's eyes. “Do you see that?”
“And do you know, Cashel,” cried Linton, assuming a voice of slow and most deliberate utterance, “that your own title to this property is as valueless and as worthless as that document you hold there? Do you know that there is in existence a paper which, produced in an open court of justice, would reduce you to beggary, and stamp you, besides, as an impostor? It may be that you are well aware of that fact; and that the same means by which you have possessed yourself of what was mine has delivered into your hands this valuable paper. But the subtlety is thrown away; I am cognizant of its existence; I have even shown it to another; and on me it depends whether you live here as a master, or walk forth in all the exposure of a cheat.”
The nature of this announcement, its possible truth, added to the consummate effrontery of him who made it, contributed to render Cashel silent, for he was actually stunned by what he heard. Linton saw the effect, but mistook its import. He believed that some thought of a compromise was passing through a mind where vengeance alone predominated; and in this error he drew nearer to him, and in a voice of cool and calm persuasion, added,—