"Then you must have meant me, because Golter and myself are the only young men Miss Babcock has kept company with in this town."
"Well, King, I did object to this girl working for me and continuing to keep company with you."
"What are your objections to me?"
"Well, you're not my kind."
"Thank God for that."
"You belong to the Ku Klux Klan and that's sufficient to condemn you. I won't stand for an employee of mine associating with one who belongs to those cowardly midnight riders who hide behind a mask."
"Stover, I dare you to come out from behind those bars and say that."
"I don't have to come out."
"No, you are too cowardly. You talk about men hiding behind masks and you hide behind iron bars when your opponent stands before you unmasked. You dirty cur, how can you have the face to talk about cowards and at the same time try to whip me over the shoulders of a defenseless girl?"
"I'll not talk to you any longer; my time is valuable." He turned away from the window as Harold said, "Stover, I warn you from now on to keep your dirty tongue off Ruth Babcock." Without replying, Stover went into his private office and closed and bolted the door after him.