"Wait! You are her brother. I don't want to have trouble with you. But if you keep on in this strain, Mr. Titus, I shall be compelled to thresh you soundly."
He fairly gasped. "Th—thresh me!" he choked out. Then he advanced.
Much to his surprise—and, strangely enough, not to my own—I failed to retreat. Instead, I extended my left fist with considerable abruptness and precision and he landed on his back.
I experienced a sensation of unholy joy. Up to that moment I had wondered whether I could do it with my left hand.
I looked at Jasper, Jr. He was staring at me in utter bewilderment.
"Good Lord! You—you've knocked him down!"
"I didn't think I could do it," said I hazily.
He sprang to his brother's side, and assisted him to a sitting posture.
"Right to the jaw," shouted Jasper, with a strange enthusiasm.
"Left," I corrected him.