"He did, and I told him not to do it."
"Ah. But did you go to the law and enter a protest against an outrage which you knew he was going to commit? Did you send me a word of warning or did you quietly wait in the hope that the result might rid you of me?"
"Mr. Lyman, I am going to tell you the absolute truth. I advised against it, and after he was gone, I went out to look for him, but he had driven down into the country to—"
"To organize his mob," Lyman suggested.
"Well, yes, we will say that he had gone for that purpose. And at night I came down town in the rain to see if I could not find him, and when I failed in this, I thought that I would come up here to warn you." He hesitated, with a slight cough.
"But you didn't come."
"No, not all the way. I halted on the stairs and turned back. I felt that I—" He hesitated.
"You felt that you could not afford to antagonize Mr. Sawyer."
McElwin coughed. "It was not exactly that, Mr. Lyman. But I did think that it was meddling with something that—that did not concern me."
"Didn't concern you? I thought you were deeply concerned, enough at least to feel yourself warranted in attempting to buy me, to hire me to leave."