Lionel interrupted him with a cynical laugh.
"The deuce you do!" he said. "From a woman? Well, I thought it was cigars, or a blue diamond, or a portrait of some old swell whom you had made out to be an ancestor of mine, or--"
"I would advise you not to be funny on the subject until you've heard it explained, Lord Caterham," said Mr. Bowker grimly. "I scarcely imagine you'll find it so humorous before I'm done."
"Sha'n't I? Well, at all events, give me the chance of hearing," said Lionel. He was in a splendid temper. He had come back, after a pleasant run with Algy Barford, to enjoy all the advantages of his new position. On the previous night he and his mother had had a long talk about Miss Maurice--this heiress whom he was to captivate so easily. The world lay straight and bright before him, and he could spare a few minutes to this old fellow--who was either a lunatic or a swindler--for his own amusement.
"I come to you Lord Caterham, from a woman who claims to be your wife."
In an instant the colour died out of Lionel's face; his brows were knit, and his mouth set and rigid. "O, ho!" said he through his clenched teeth, after a moment's pause; "you do, do you? You come to me from that woman? That's your line of country, is it? O yes--I guessed wrong about you, certainly--you don't look a bit like a bully!"
"A bully!" echoed William Bowker, looking very white.
"A bully!" repeated Lionel--"the woman's father, brother, former husband--any thing that will give you a claim to put in an appearance for her. And now look here. This game won't do with me--I'm up to it; so you had better drop it at once, and get out."
Old Bowker waited for a minute with set teeth and clenched fists, all the gray hair round his mouth bristling with fury. Only for a minute. Then he resumed the seat which he had quitted, and said,
"I'm not quite so certain of myself nowadays, as Ive been a long time out of practice; but it strikes me that during your long career of gentlemanly vice, my Lord Caterham, you never were nearer getting a sound drubbing than you have been within the last five minutes. However, let that pass. You have been good enough to accuse me of being a bully, by which term I imagine you mean a man sent here by the unfortunate lady of whom we have spoken to assert her rights. I may as well start by telling you that she is utterly ignorant of my intention to call on you."