“You don’t believe it? Well, I’ll prove it to you!” fairly shouted the angry man. “That deed of trust! Bah! There never was any! He deeded that property outright to Captain Hawkesbury and me for what he owed us, and it wasn’t enough. Now you get out of my office! I won’t be insulted by you!”
Tom thought he was the one being insulted, and his looks showed it.
“Now listen to me——” he began, as calmly as he could.
“I won’t listen,” interrupted the angry man. “I want you to understand that—but what is the use of talking to such a boy as you. I—I——”
“I think you had better listen, Mr. Doolittle. I want to——”
“Get out!” stormed Mr. Doolittle. “Don’t let me hear another word from you! As for that deed of trust—”
He made a grab for the paper Tom held, but our hero stepped back, a surprised look on his face.
CHAPTER XVIII
BACK AT WEST POINT
“Just a moment, Mr. Doolittle,” said our hero, coolly. “Did you want to look at this paper?” and he held the deed of trust, or, rather, the rough draft of it, up so the crabbed old money lender could fix his eyes on it.
“No, I don’t want to look at it,” was the snarling answer.