“I’m not your guest, my lady.”
“What do you mean?”
The young man replied sullenly:
“With things as they are at our farm, I haven’t time, my lady, to be anybody’s guest. Father put his money into valuable stock, and some of ’em are dying. We’re pretty nigh desperate. Father told me to find Mr. Gridley this afternoon, and to ask for a little help. I went to his house. They told me he was here——”
“Yes, yes; but why did you strike him?”
Excitedly, he didn’t pause to pick his words.
“Because, my lady, he’s a bully and a brute.”
Lady Selina made no attempt to hide her amazement. The young man spoke with such passion that he became impressive.
“Bless my soul! What do you answer to that, Gridley?”
Gridley answered fiercely: