"Take a seat, Mr. Thornton. Your speech is improving," I added, throwing myself into a chair near my base of supplies.
I think my visitor was entirely satisfied by this time that he could make nothing by bullying me; and it seemed to me that in reaching this point I had accomplished a great deal. Tom Thornton sat down in a chair, near the table where he had deposited the lamp.
"Thank you, Mr. Ernest Thornton. I am seated, and await your further pleasure," he continued, with a curling lip.
"You intimated that you came on business."
"I certainly hinted as much as that."
"And your business relates to Miss Kate Loraine?"
"It does. I took the liberty to inquire if you knew where she was at the present time. A direct and unequivocal answer to this question would oblige your humble servant very much," said Tom, nervously; and I saw that it was with the greatest difficulty he could confine himself to this satirical style of speech—for he wanted to break out in menace and violence, to crush me with hard words and savage demonstrations, which prudent cunning restrained him from using. "Do you know where the girl is?"
"I do," I replied, promptly. "I trust my reply is sufficiently direct and unequivocal."
"It is; and you will oblige me by informing me, as directly and unequivocally, where she is," said he, rising from his chair.
"I am sorry to disoblige you, Mr. Tom Thornton; but I must respectfully decline to give you any information on that point," I answered, firmly.