"We will assume that I have them," sneered Bosworth, "and such being the case I will return them only to the governor."
"Then,"—and Griswold's smile broadened—"if it comes to concessions, I will grant that you are within your rights in wishing to place them in the governor's own hands. The governor of South Carolina is now, so to speak, in camera."
"The governor is hiding. He's afraid to come to Columbia, and the whole state knows it."
"The papers, my friend; and I will satisfy you that the governor of South Carolina is under this roof and transacting business."
"Here in the state house?" demanded Bosworth, and he blanched and twisted the buttons of his coat nervously.
"The governor of South Carolina, the supreme power of the state, charged with full responsibility, enjoying all the immunities, rights and privileges unto him belonging."
It was clear that Bosworth took no stock whatever in Griswold's story; but Griswold's pretended employment by the governor and his apparent knowledge of the governor's affairs, piqued his curiosity. If this was really the Griswold who had written a widely accepted work on admiralty and who was known to him by reputation as a brilliant lawyer of Virginia, the mystery was all the deeper. By taking the few steps necessary to reach the governor's chambers he would prove the falsity of Griswold's pretensions to special knowledge of the governor's whereabouts and plans. He stepped to an inner office, came back with a packet of papers and thrust a revolver into his pocket with so vain a show of it that Griswold laughed aloud.
"What! Do you still back your arguments with fire-arms down here? It's a method that has gone out of fashion in Virginia!"
"If there's a trick in this it will be the worse for you," scowled Bosworth.