Colin came a step nearer his brother, his eyes dancing.
“Raymond, I can’t resist it,” he said. “You’ve got to stand quite still, while I smack your filthy face just once, hard. It’ll hurt you, I’m afraid, but you’ve just got to bear it. If you resist in any way, I shall tell my father exactly what has happened this morning as soon as I get in. I shall tell him at lunch before Violet and the servants. I may settle to tell him in any case; that depends on how our talk goes off. But if you don’t stand still like a good boy, I shall certainly tell him. Now! Shut your eyes and see what I’ll give you.... There! It quite stung my fingers, so I’m sure it stung your face. Sit down; no, I think you look nicer standing. Let me think a moment.”
Colin lit another cigarette, and stared at his brother as he smoked it.
“You’ve been wise about one thing,” he said, “in not attempting to deny the truth of my pretty thought-reading. You’re beaten, you see; you daren’t deny it. You’re a whipped cur, who daren’t even growl. Lucky for you that you’re such a coward.... Now, I’ve settled what to do with you. As soon as we get in, you shall write out for me a confession. You shall say that you intended to shoot me, and put down quite shortly and clearly what your plan was. You shall sign, and my father and I will sign it as witnesses. He shan’t read it; I will tell him that it is a private friendly little matter between you and me, and we just want his signature.
“I’m devilish good to you, you know; it’s lucky that that affair about my revolver-cartridges amused me; that, and smacking your face. Then I shall send your confession to my bank, to be kept unopened there, except in case of my death, in which case it is to be sent to my father. That’ll keep you in order, you see. You won’t dare to make any other attempt on my life, because if it were successful, it would be known that you had tried to kill me before, and that would be a suspicious circumstance. How’s your face?... Answer, can’t you?”
“It’s all right,” said Raymond.
“Good Lord, I don’t want to know about your face. What do you say to my proposal? The alternative is that I tell my father and Violet all about it. I rather fancy—correct me if I am wrong—that he will believe me. Shocking affair, but true. Answer.”
“I accept it,” said Raymond.
“Of course you do. Now pick up your gun. Did you have good sport with the pigeons? Answer pleasantly.”
“I got about forty,” said Raymond.