There came a smart rapping on one of the doors, and a voice from without.
"Shall we send for a policeman, sir?"
"By all means!--at once! Let him break down the door if he can't get in any other way! This--this woman's--positively dangerous."
"You're right there; I am--you've made me dangerous. And don't you think that a policeman, or ten policemen, will keep me from being even with you if I once get started; not all the policemen in London couldn't do it!"
Mr. Luker, seemingly under the impression that his client was going a little too far, even for her, ventured on an interposition.
"Pardon me, Mrs. Lamb, but, if you will allow me to say so, I think this matter can be settled on a perfectly peaceful basis. If these gentlemen are disposed to be reasonable, and I feel sure they are, everything can be arranged without unpleasantness of any sort or kind. The point is----"
Mrs. Lamb took the words out of his mouth, substituting, that is, words of her own.
"The point is, that, among other things, you've robbed me of ten thousand Hardwood Company's shares."
"It's an infamous falsehood! We've done nothing of the kind!"
"Haven't you? I know you have, and so do you; but you're one of those brazen-faced old sinners who would go to the gallows with a lie on your lips. Those shares are worth fifty thousand pounds, and more; but as you've robbed me of every penny I have in the world, and left me with nothing but starvation staring me in the face----"