"I have been playing to fools," he said. "Now I shall enjoy a discriminating critic."
"Yes," remarked Lord Nick, "actors generally desire an intelligent audience for the death scene."
"I applaud your penetration and I shall speak well of you when this disagreeable duty is finished."
"Come," and Lord Nick smiled genially, "you are a game little cock!"
The telltale flush crimsoned Donnegan's face. And if the fight had begun at that moment no power under heaven could have saved Lord Nick from the frenzy of the little man.
"My size keeps me from stooping," said Donnegan, "I shall look up to you, sir, until the moment you fall."
"Well hit again! You are also a wit, I see! Donnegan, I am almost sorry for the necessity of this meeting. And if it weren't for the audience—"
"Say no more," said Donnegan, bowing. "I read your heart and appreciate all you intend."
He had touched his stock as he bowed, and now he turned to the mirror and carefully adjusted it, for it was a little awry from the ride; but in reality he used that moment to examine his own face, and the set of his jaw and the clearness of his eye reassured him. Turning again, he surprised a glint of admiration in the glance of Lord Nick.
"We are at one, sir, it appears," he said. "And there is no other way out of this disagreeable necessity?"