“Now, then, let you and me go over and see Mr Marston and tell him everything at once.”
Dick looked at the speaker with a feeling of anger against him for his obstinate perseverance that was almost vicious.
“Now, are you coming?”
“No, I am not.”
“Then I’ve done with you,” cried Tom angrily. “Father says that a lad who knows who attacked his parent in that way, and will not speak out, is a coward and a cur, and that’s what you are, Dick Winthorpe.”
“Tom Tallington,” cried Dick, with his eyes flashing, “you are a fool.”
“Say that again,” said Tom menacingly.
“You are a fool and an idiot, and not worth speaking to again.”
Whack!
That is the nearest way of spelling the back-handed blow which Tom Tallington delivered in his old school-fellow’s face, while the straightforward blow which was the result of Dick Winthorpe’s fist darting out to the full stretch of his arm sounded like an echo; and the next moment Tom was lying upon the ground.