"Mine is Ronaldson," the young man answered. "I am a reporter."
Mannering regarded him steadily for a moment.
"You are the young man, then," he said, "who has discovered the mare's nest of my iniquity."
"If it is a mare's nest," the young man answered, briskly, "I shall be quite as much relieved as disappointed. But your being down here doesn't look very much like that, does it?"
"No man," Mannering answered, "hears that a bomb is going to be thrown at him without a certain amount of curiosity as to its nature. I have been down to examine the bomb. Frankly, I don't think much of it."
"You are prepared, then, to deny this man Parkins's story?" the reporter asked.
"I am prepared to have a shot at your paper for libel, anyhow, if you use it," Mannering answered.
"Do you know the substance of his communication?"
"I can make a pretty good guess at it," Mannering answered.
"You really mean to deny it, then?" the reporter asked.