“Then I will have recourse to the law.”
“So will I,” retorted Bernard.
“No one will believe your preposterous charge, if that is what you refer to. You have no proof.”
“There you are mistaken. I have the affidavit of Jack Staples, seaman on the Vesta, who saved me from your murderous attack.”
Puffer turned pale. What Bernard said surprised him very much, and he saw at once that such a document would mean danger to him.
“If you want to invoke the law, Professor Puffer, you can do so,” said Mr. Cunningham.
Puffer was discreetly silent. He seized his hat and left the room without bidding farewell to Bernard or Walter Cunningham.
“Your friend has gone, Bernard,” said Cunningham. “I venture to say that he won’t come back. It is certainly a droll circumstance that you and he should have applied for the same situation and that he was refused.”
“You may repent of your choice, Walter.”
“When I do I will tell you. And now, Bernard, I have brought you something.”