“Good-night!” he gasped.
Then he left her and went into the hall, John Barrett close on his heels. The millionaire watched him take his hat, followed him out upon the broad porch, and halted him at the edge of the steps.
“Mr. Wade,” he said, “you’d rather resign your position than be kicked out, I presume?”
“You mean that it is your wish that I should go away from Stillwater?”
“That is exactly what I mean. You resign, or I will have your resignation demanded by the school board.”
“I think my school relations are entirely my own business,” retorted the young man, fighting back his mounting wrath.
“I’ll make it mine, and have you kicked out of this town like a cur.”
Wade remembered at that instant the face of the man whom he had seen leave John Barrett’s office that morning. He recollected his words—“I’d relish bein’ the man that mistook him for a bear!” He knew now how that man felt. And feeling the lust of killing rise in his own soul for the first time, he clinched his fists, set his teeth, and strode away into the night.