"He's not a mere nobody! You shan't speak of him like that! You shan't!" and Dick clenched his hands and turned pale, whilst his eyes deepened and darkened in colour.
"Mind who you're talking to!" Lionel said angrily.
"Let me go!" said Dick, hoarsely.
"Do you think I'm going to hold my tongue to please a small kid like you?"
"Oh, don't make a row!" Ruth interposed quickly. "Please don't quarrel with him, Lionel! What will grandfather say?"
"He'd better not go sneaking to grandfather!" her brother cried. "If he does, I'll give him something he won't easily forget! Now, then," he proceeded, grasping Dick by the shoulder, "you attend to me! What are you shaking for, you little coward."
The younger boy vouchsafed no reply. Every vestige of colour had gone from his face, and he was shaking, but not from fright, as Lionel imagined; he was, in reality, quivering with passion.
"I'll give you something to shake for, if you don't take care," Lionel said scornfully. "You'd better mind your own business for the future; and if I like to joke about your grand relations who live opposite the baker's shop, and—"
"Let me go!" said Dick hoarsely; then, as Lionel only grasped him tighter, with a sudden movement he wrenched himself free, and struck his cousin a swift blow in the face with his clenched fist.