“You saw it drop?”
“I did.”
“And the maid who gave it—perhaps you followed her home.”
“No matter—I believe I know all there is to be known of this affair, sir. I am here to advise you to drop it before you get hurt.”
“Would you like to hear my opinion of you, sir?”
“It would in no wise alter the one I hold of you, Mr. Prescott. Still it is not my plan to indulge in personalities. Remember that what I do is done as a business and from friendship. I wrong no honest man and deceive no trusting woman.”
“You make me out a scamp, which I am not, in my own estimation,” he said hotly.
“That is another subject which we need not discuss, sir, since our ideas would be sure to be at variance. You go your way and I go mine; but at the last I wish to distinctly warn you that we are prepared to give you your deserts if you persist in your course.”
“You can go to the man who employs you and tell him for me that Paul Prescott defies him, and will fight him to the end!”
This was strange language—there was certainly nothing cringing here.