I spoke quietly. I was not going to waste the choicer flowers of speech on a man who was incapable of understanding them. Later on, when he had awakened to a sense of his position, I would begin really to talk to him.
He continued to stare at me. Then a sudden flash of intelligence lit up his features.
"Mr. Garnick," he said.
"You've got it at last."
He stretched out a huge hand.
"I want to know," I said distinctly, "what you've got to say for yourself after letting our affair with the professor become public property?"
He paused a while in thought.
"Dear sir," he said at last, as if he were dictating a letter, "dear sir, I owe you—ex—exp—"
"You do," said I grimly. "I should like to hear it."
"Dear sir, listen me."