"By ——, sir, if I find it true, I'll kill him, sir."
The old man had in his gouty grip one of those foolish daggers once so much in vogue, but which have now gone out of use, and Varbarriere saw it glimmer in the faint light.
"Surely, Colonel Lennox, you don't mean—you can't mean—you're not going to resort to violence, sir?"
"By ——, sir, he had best look to it."
Varbarriere placed his hand on the old man's sleeve, he could feel the tremor of his thin wrist through it.
"General Lennox, if I had fancied that you could have harboured such a thought, I never should have brought you here."
The General, with his teeth clenched, made him no reply but a fierce nod.
"Remember, sir, you have the courts of law, and you have the code of honour—either or both. One step more I shall not take with you, if you mean that sort of violence."
"What do you mean, sir?" asked the General, grimly.
"I mean this, sir, you shall learn nothing by this night's procedure, unless you promise me, upon your honour as a soldier, sir, and a gentleman, that you will not use that dagger or any other weapon."