"You will not answer me," passionately cried her husband. "Very well. I will wring the truth from that insolent villain! I will know why he dared bow and speak to my wife. Drive on home, madam; I will follow the villain and make him retract the insult!"
He sprang from the moving phaeton at the imminent risk of his neck, and followed Leon Vinton with a quick stride down the road.
Like one in a fearful dream, Queenie gathered the reins in her trembling hands and drove recklessly homeward through the beautiful sunshine.
[CHAPTER XXXVI.]
The angry husband followed Leon Vinton's leisurely steps, and quickly overtook him.
Placing one hand on the villain's shoulder with a grasp like steel, Captain Ernscliffe whirled him round face to face.
A malevolent sneer curved the lips of the handsome scoundrel as he recognized his assailant. He tried to shake himself free from that painfully tight grasp, but it was useless. He seemed to be held in a vise.
"Unhand me, sir," he said, in a voice of angry expostulation.
"Villain!" exclaimed Captain Ernscliffe, in a low, deep voice of concentrated passion. "How dared you speak to my wife? Apologize immediately for the insult."