"Then we've no time to lose; we must go after him at once."
"No, William dear; you must not; you'd only lose your temper, and he might do you an injury."
"An injury! I'd soon show him which was the best man of the two."
"I'll not hear of it, Sarah. He mustn't go with you."
"Come, Esther, don't be foolish. Let me go."
He had taken his hat from the peg. Esther got between him and the door.
"I forbid it," she said; "I will not let you go—perhaps to have a fight, and with that cough."
William was coughing. He had turned pale, and he said, leaning against the table, "Give me something to drink, a little milk."
Esther poured some into a cup. He sipped it slowly. "I'll go upstairs," she said, "for my hat and jacket. You've got your betting to attend to." William smiled. "Sarah, mind, he's not to go with you."
"You forget what you said last night about the betting."