In the quiet, low-voiced, well-dressed young gentleman who stood before him, with clear, pale complexion, neatly trimmed hair and mustache, who wore light kid gloves, and had a rosebud in his buttonhole, he did not recognize the rough, rollicking, sunburned and shock-headed lad who had befriended him at Grizzly Gulch, and whom he himself had shot down, robbed and left for dead, to be devoured by wolves in the Black Woods of the gold State, and whose name and inheritance he had stolen.
“Who in thunder and lightning are you, you villain? And what the fire and brimstone are you doing here, in my house, you rascal?” he fiercely demanded, and without waiting for an answer he fell to cursing and swearing in the most furious manner, ending with: “If you don’t get out of this in double-quick I’ll have you kicked out of doors and into the horse pond, you scoundrel!”
“Perhaps if you give yourself the trouble to look up in my face you may recognize me, as well as my right to be here,” said Ran calmly.
Gentleman Geff stared.
“You should remember me. It has not been so long; only since the second of last April that we parted company in the Black Woods of California,” continued Ran.
Then the criminal’s face blanched, his jaw fell, his eyes started, he stared with growing horror for a moment, then reeled, and must have fallen but that he was caught in the strong arms of Longman, who supported him to a high-backed armchair and sat him down in it, where he seemed to fall into a state of stupefaction. The awful shock of this meeting had not sobered him—he was too far gone in drunkenness for that; but it had reduced him to a state of imbecility.
Meanwhile Mr. Cassius Leegh, who had been engaged outside doing all the duties of his patron, seeing to the luggage, paying off the carryall, and even taking care of his sister, now strutted into the room with the lady on his arm, his head thrown back, his nose in the air, and altogether with a fine manner of scorn.
He was not so drunk as his patron; he was only drunk enough to be a very great man, indeed; but not to be a very violent one.
“What is the meaning of this irregularity?” he loftily demanded. “We did not expect company!”
“We did,” said Ran with a touch of humor in his tone.