'I have no quarrel with you, Ben,' he said, 'but I must see him. If the shock of my presence kills him, well, so much the better, it will save me doing it.'
'You don't mean to harm him?' said Nix, alarmed.
'That's precisely what I do mean,' said Jim.
'Then you must be prevented from doing so,' said Nix.
Jim Dennis knew there were several people about the place, and he did not wish to be hindered in his work, so he tried to propitiate Ben Nix. 'I shall not be long with him,' he said; 'and when I have done with him, and you know all, you will side with me.'
'I always do that,' said Ben. 'You and I have never been bad friends.'
'But we shall fall out if I do not see him quietly,' said Jim. 'I mean to do so, and you had better let me pass.'
Benjamin Nix saw he meant it, and stood on one side.
He argued that a disturbance would probably be as dangerous to Rodney Shaw, or more so, as an interview with Dennis.
'Which room is he in?' asked Jim.