"Don't, don't!" she cried. "Oh, Professor! Don't kill him, for my sake!"
Professor Bulkeley shivered, stopped where he crouched, and with a long, quivering breath straightened and moved backward.
On Cockney the effect was different. A moment ago his resources seemed to be exhausted—baffled by this man he had ridiculed. But the appeal of his wife—to the Professor—for him—drove the blood to his eyes.
"I'll kill you!" he frothed. "I'll kill you!"
He mouthed it like a madman, his great head rolling loosely, his fingers closing and opening.
"And you, too, you Jezebel!"
Through panting lips the Professor spoke:
"It wouldn't be the first time you'd done a deed like that to a woman, would it—Jim Cathers?"
Cockney staggered back, his hand fumbling at his lips.
"Jim—Cathers!" he faltered. "You know—that!"