"At any rate," said Redfield, "Mr. Sefton can't mean to marry her—an unknown like that; it must be something else."
Prescott felt hot pincers grip him around the heart, and a passion that he could not control flamed to his brain. He strode forward and put his hand heavily on the Member's shoulder.
"Are you speaking of Miss Catherwood?" he demanded.
"I am," replied Redfield, throwing off the heavy hand. "But what business is that of yours?"
"Simply this; that she is too good and noble a woman to be spoken of slightingly by you. Such remarks as you have just made you repeat at your risk."
Redfield made an angry reply and there were all the elements of a fierce encounter; but Raymond interfered.
"Redfield," he said, "you are wrong, and moreover you owe all of us an apology for speaking in such a way of a lady in our presence. I fully indorse all that Captain Prescott says of Miss Catherwood—I happen to have seen instances of her glorious unselfishness and sacrifice, and I know that she is one of God's most nearly perfect women."
"And so do I," said Winthrop, "and I," "and I," said the others. Redfield saw that the crowd was unanimously against him and frowned.
"Oh, well, perhaps I spoke hastily and carelessly," he said. "I apologize."
Raymond changed the talk at once.