Rosner, without waiting for the clerk's answer, had slipped past him and into the office. And what a Rosner! Putty-pale, gaunt-cheeked, unshaven, wild-eyed!
"Thought you'd send me away, eh?" he almost screamed. "See me to-morrow, eh? Well, you'll see me now, John Dorning!"
Rodrigo quickly slammed the door shut and, turning to Rosner, whipped out, "Don't yell like a madman, Rosner. Sit down and tell us what it's all about."
"I've got nothing to do with you," Rosner cried fiercely. "It's him I got to reckon with." He pointed at John. The man was shaking all over, his eyes blazing with a strange light. "He knows! He sold me that black and ruby Huin Tsin vase—five thousand dollars. He knew I had to buy it. I had to replace it for a customer, or go out of business. He knew that."
"It was less than it was worth," John tried to explain. "And I took your note."
"I know damned well you did, damned well!" cried the hysterical Rosner. "And your father took a mortgage."
"Mr. Dorning's lawyer, Mr. Bates—Emerson Bates—is the man to see about that. Mr. Dorning doesn't handle those matters at all." Rodrigo tried to soothe the ranting Rosner. The man was ill, beside himself.
"Lawyers are paid to do as they're told!" Rosner yelled hoarsely, gasping as if his emotions would not allow him to talk. "I've been in the hospital—three months—out of my head most of the time. Yesterday they took me home. Mortgage foreclosed. Everything going at auction! My wife is sick. They—say she may die. I'm out of business, do you hear! Down and out! That's what you big men try to do, push us little fellows out, crush us, kill us! You big concerns with all your money. Cornering all the valuable stock, making us pay the price for it!" A sudden look of cruel cunning crept into his mad eyes. "But there's something your dollars can't get you now—and that's the chance to do it again!"
With a quick clutch at the pocket of his ragged coat he brought out a revolver and pointed it, with a snarl, at John. His hand held it unsteadily. He groped crazily for the trigger.
John Dorning let out an exclamation of terror. He cried, "Rodrigo!"