"Not to me," answered the doctor promptly; "in fact, Steve seemed to be rather friendly inclined towards you."
"No! No! No!" cried Mona earnestly. "He never liked me; he was jealous because my uncle loved me."
"Well," Horace looked at his pipe rather than at the speaker, "I should not say that if I were you. In my opinion Steve was not so very devoted to Lanwin as was made out——"
"But I thought——"
"Never mind what you thought," said Horace rudely, and rose to walk up and down the room. "I am here to tell you facts. When I have explained as much as is possible for me to explain, I'm going."
"Won't you stop here for the night?" asked Mona, surprised.
"No," retorted Horace abruptly; "I won't. Now listen, as my time is valuable, and I can't remain here chattering nonsense, and——"
"And behaving rudely," finished Prelice, with sarcasm.
"Oh, you're there, my son, with your monkey-brand manners. There, there!" he went on teasingly, as Prelice jumped up, flushing, "don't get out your little gun. There's a lady present."
"I wish you would remember that."