"There you go, trying to say clever, insulting things. Why not be frank? Why not be direct?"
"Why should I, simply because YOU wish it? You don't half realize how amusing you are."
"Oh, yes, I do," retorted he, with a shrewd, quick glance from those all-seeing eyes of his.
"Half, I said. You do half realize. I told you once before that I knew what a fraud you were."
"I play my game in my own way," evaded he; "and it seems to be doing nicely, thank you."
"But the further you go, the harder it'll be for you to progress."
"Then the harder for those opposing me. I don't make it easy for those who are making it hard for me. I get 'em so busy nursing their own wounds that they've no longer time to bother me. I've told you before, and I tell you again, I shall go where I please."
"Let me see," laughed Margaret; "it was Napoleon—wasn't it?—who used to talk that way?"
"And you think I'm imitating him, eh?"
"You do suggest it very often."