With a leap Norton grasped the boy again and shook him madly:
"Married already? It's not true, I tell you! It's not true. You're lying to me—lying to gain time—it's not true!"
"You wish me to swear it?"
"Silence, sir!" the father cried in solemn tones. "You are my son—this is my house—I order you to be silent!"
"Before God, I swear it's true! Helen is my lawful——"
"Don't say it! It's false—you lie, I tell you!" Again the father shook him with cruel violence, his eyes staring with the glitter of a maniac.
Tom seized the trembling hands and threw them from his shoulders with a quick movement of anger:
"If that's all you've got to say, sir, excuse me, I'll go to my wife!"
He wheeled, slammed the door and was gone.
The father stared a moment, stunned, looked around blankly, placed his hands over his ears and held them, crying: