'Why have you told us this now, and—and in such a way?' he asked, turning to my friend.
Jack hesitated a second before replying. He realized that nothing could prejudice his cause in Lorna's eyes more than by attacking his rival.
'Because I want to save Miss Bolivick,' he said.
'From what? Tell us plainly what you mean!'
'From promising to marry a man who is unworthy of her, and who would blacken her life.'
'Prove it. You have said too much or too little. Either prove what you have said, or withdraw it.'
Springfield laughed aloud. 'Surely,' he said, 'we have had enough of this! You see, after all his bluster, what it really amounts to.'
'Just a minute, please,' and Jack's voice became almost menacing. 'I am not in the habit of blustering. I have warned you to go away from here, and as you have forced me to go into details I will do so. You insist, then, that I lie when I say that I saw Maurice St. Mabyn alive in the July of 1914?'
'I do not say that, but I do say that you are suffering from an hallucination,' replied Springfield. 'You may have recovered your memory, but in doing so you suffer from remembering more than ever took place.'
'You insist on that?'