"Mr. Wiggins, there most he some mistake," said Pate. "Botts is not crazy."
"No madder man ever broke out of bedlam!" said Wiggins. "He will kill somebody if he is not put in a strait-jacket."
"What was all this about?" asked Pate.
"About?" said Wiggins. "Why, sir, I was merely repeating something which Mr. Belton had said to me, when up jumped Botts and aimed a blow at my head with chair; and had I out dodged as quickly as I did, he would have knocked my brains out. Is such a man fit to run at large through this house? Do you call him sane, Mr. Pate? Sane!—if he's sane, you might as well pull down all the lunatic asylums in the land and let their inmates out to——"
"Stop! Wiggins, stop! I begin to see," said Botts. "You are not crazy, after all! Did you say you were merely repeating what Belton had said to you?"
"Nothing more," said Wiggins. "And was that any reason why I should be——"
"My dear, dear fellow!" said Botts. "It was a mistake! I see! Give me your hand. I ask ten thousand pardons!"
Botts advanced towards Wiggins, who retreated a step, and then stood his ground and took the proffered hand.
"Thank God," said Pate, "there will be no duel!"
"Crazy men are not allowed to fight duels," said the landlord.