“That's all right, Mr. Colton. Now I think I must be going. You've talked enough.”
“You sit still. I haven't begun to talk yet. Paine, before you did this thing for me I had taken a fancy to you. I believed there was good stuff in you and that I could use you in my business. Now I know I can't afford to do without you. . . . Stop! let me finish. Young man, I told you once that when I made up my mind to do a thing, I always did it. ALWAYS; do you understand? I am going to get you. You are coming with me.”
I had foreseen this, of course. But I had hoped to get away from that room before he reached the point. He had reached it, however, and perhaps it was as well he had. We would end this for all time.
“Mr. Colton,” I answered, “you have a monopoly of some things, but of others you have not. I am just as determined to have my own way in this matter as you are. I shall NOT accept your offer of employment. That is final.”
“Final be damned! Young man—”
“Mr. Colton, if you persist I shall go away.”
“Go away! Before I tell you to? Why, you—”
I rose. “The doctor told me that you must not excite yourself,” I said. “I am going. Good-by.”
He was excited, there was no doubt of that. He sat up in bed.
“You come back!” he ordered. “Come back! If you don't—Well, by the Lord, if you don't I'll get up and come after you!”