Halting, bringing his heels together with a click, and throwing his shoulders back, Darrin stopped on the corner and looked down the street.
Five or six doors away, close to a building, stood a young woman of not more than twenty-two. Though she was strikingly pretty, Dave did not note that fact in the first glance. He saw, however, that she was well dressed in the latest spring garments, and that her pose was one of retreat from the man who stood before her.
That the man had the external appearance of the gentleman was the \ first fact Darrin observed.
Then he heard the young woman's indignant utterance:
"You coward!"
"That is a taunt not often thrown at me," the young man laughed, carelessly.
"Only a coward would attempt to win a woman's love by threats," replied the girl, more calmly, though bitterness rang in her tone. "As for you, I wish to assure you that I am quite through with you!"
"Oh, no, you're not!" rejoined the annoyer, with the air of one who knows himself to be victor. "In fact, you will do very much as I wish, or your brother—-"
"You coward!" spoke the girl, scornfully again.
"If your brother suffers, your pride will be in the dust," insisted the annoyer, "and, remember, I, alone, can save your brother from disgrace."