“They have not tried to blow you up?”
“Indeed but they did!” said Uncle Jack fiercely; “and if it had not been for the coolness and bravery of my nephew there the place would have been destroyed.”
“Tut! Tut! Tut!” ejaculated Mr Tomplin; and putting on his spectacles he stared at me in the most provoking way, making me feel as if I should like to knock his glasses off.
“Is it customary for your people here to fire canisters of gunpowder in the workshops of those who are newcomers?”
“Sometimes,” said Mr Tomplin coolly.
“But such things would destroy life.”
“Well, not always life, my dear sir,” said Mr Tomplin, “but very often great bodily injury is done.”
“Very often?”
“Well, no, not very often now, but we have had a great many trade outrages in our time.”
“But what have we done beyond taking possession of a building for which we have paid a large sum of money?”