“How dare you!” fiercely interrupted Sir Godfrey, stamping on the floor with rage. “You, the son of a common seaman, dare to accuse my son of giving false statements! You forget, boy, to whom you speak!”
The Baronet felt a grasp upon his shoulder that turned him round face to face with the excited O’Loughlin, whilst poor Mr. Stanmore, a quiet and rather timid man, looked and felt extremely miserable and uneasy.
“Ah,” he thought to himself, “these sons of the ocean are terribly fiery; better use the pen than the sword—a much safer weapon!”
“Sir Godfrey Etherton,” said the Lieutenant, speaking calmly, though he trembled with passion; “why I have not felled you to my feet, I cannot say! You are no longer on the quarter-deck of the Dauntless, where your passions found vent upon the victims your anger selected. You here, in your supposed triumph in ousting a poor child out of its parents’ heritage, hurl insult upon the head of an unfortunate lady, and dare to call your brother’s wife an impostor and an adventuress!”
“I will listen no more to this tirade!” furiously exclaimed the Baronet, seizing his hat; and as he reached the door he turned, and shaking his clenched hand at O’Loughlin, he added: “You shall hear from me, Mr. O’Loughlin; and as to this farce of a niece, I disclaim all relationship, and leave to those who have trumped up this deception the right to make the most of their ill got-up project.” So saying, the Baronet slammed the door after him.
The worthy solicitor leaned back in his chair, exclaiming—
“God bless me, I’m glad he’s gone!”
“Faith, so am I,” said O’Loughlin, wiping his brow; “for if he had remained only two minutes more, he should have vanished through the window!”
“This is too bad,” exclaimed William Thornton. “What a heartless, worldly-minded man!”
“Oh, confound him, don’t bother about him; we’ll defeat him yet; and by Jove, if he only gives me a chance, which I am afraid he will not, I’ll make him remember O’Loughlin.”