Of his own muscle he was not altogether sure, if an actual wrestle over Gerald came. He wished by loud talking to attract any kind of attention over in the hotel.
“You—spoil my plans—again!” repeated Jennison, regarding him indecisively, but with a look of such malignant anger, especially at the sound of that name, that it has remained in Philip’s memory all his life, in his mental photograph gallery of looks.
“Yes, Mr.—Jennison. And I hope to spoil them for good and all now. I wondered whether I’d seen the last of you. I mean to, soon! What have you got to say about this new trick? Not what you’ve been trying to make him believe, Mr. Jennison.”
Jennison was silent for an instant. He was, truly, on the last trial to carry forward that daring scheme which had suggested itself so suddenly, been abandoned, then taken up again, as circumstances seemed to throw in his way the chance to complete it. It was characteristic of the man and of his hap-hazard recklessness, as well as of his sense of the desperateness of his position, that he cast aside one attempt for another, and changed one position for another, each of sheer audacity, during the rest of the scene. His judgment, if bold and masterful, was ill-balanced. But he must have cowed and driven many an opponent to whatever wall seemed hardest to escape over, or he would not have changed falsehoods and purposes so swiftly as he now did. He knew his perils! Standing before the door of the summer-house, he eyed Philip. With that quick turn from force to a kind of blustering wheedle which he had resorted to on the altercation on the Old Province, he said, disregarding Gerald’s presence altogether:
“See here, now, Touchtone, keep cool! We’re not overheard yet, and there’s no reason why we should be. I wont hurt you—”
“Hurt me!”
“No. Do you remember the last thing I said to you that night we talked? What I promised you? It’s not too late now for you to ask me to keep my promise, and—once more—to save us both lots of trouble.”
“You mean for me to second you in your plans, whatever they are? And if I do I’m to be rewarded? Eh?”
The other nodded and gnawed his lip.
“If I don’t I’m to be made to suffer, I believe? Even if you can’t gain what you’re after?”