“How do you know?” exclaimed the doctor, staring.
“Why hadn’t I ought to, when I took that there money myself?”
“You?”
“Me, sir! I’m the one as stole it, an’ what’s more, I got it now, up-stairs in my trunk!”
Silence a moment while the doctor peered at him with wrinkled brow.
“That’s not true, Ezra,” said he at last, meeting the old man’s defiant look. “You’re lying now to shield that boy!”
“Lyin’, am I?” And Ezra reddened dully. “Dr. Filhiol, sir, ef you wa’n’t an old man, an’ hobblin’ on a cane, them ain’t the words you’d use to me, an’ go clear!”
“I—I beg your pardon, Ezra,” stammered the doctor. “I’m not saying it in a derogatory sense.”
“Rogatory or hogatory, don’t make a damn’s odds! You called me a liar!”
“A noble liar. That kind of a lie is noble, Ezra, but very foolish. I understand you, all right. When I say you’re trying to shield Hal, I’ve hit the mark.”