“It’s time you did, then.�
“Very possibly. Is it because you wished to give me some disinterested advice on the subject that I am indebted to this midnight call?�
“Do I look like a fellow who goes around giving disinterested advice?� was the gruff response.
“No; to tell you the truth, you do not. On the contrary, you bear a very close resemblance to an unmitigated scoundrel, coward, and squaw man whom I once knew in the Klondike. He was known up there as Red Mike.� This answer was delivered as coolly and as imperturbably as it might have been had their positions been reversed.
But the man seated on the chair seemed to accept it as a compliment rather than as an affront. He grinned affably and shifted one leg across the other knee.
“I’m glad you haven’t forgotten me, Lynne,� he said. “The fact may hasten the adjustment of matters between us.�
“One does not soon forget an enforced association with vermin,� said Lynne.
“That will be about all of that sort of twaddle, Mr. Carleton Lynne,� Red Mike remarked, with a slow scowl. “We can talk decently together, without slinging mud, or I’ll fix you so that you won’t be able to talk at all. Take your choice.�
“Very well; talk away—if you have anything to say that can be listened to by a self-respecting gentleman. I find that I have been mistaken about you, and I’m very sorry that it was a mistake.â€�
“What about?�