"May I ask, sir, who you are?"
The stranger's penetrating eyes were set deep in his head; he fixed them on the young gentleman's face with a steady stare of evident surprise. Rodney returned him stare for stare.
"You may ask, young gentleman, and, though I seriously doubt if you are entitled to ask, I don't mind telling you. My name is Wilkes--Stephen Wilkes; I am your late uncle's legal adviser, and am here to safeguard the interests he has left behind."
"Then, Mr. Wilkes, be so good as to get out of that chair."
Mr. Andrews looked at the speaker in shocked amazement.
"Mr. Elmore! You forget yourself! How dare you speak like that to a gentleman in Mr. Wilkes's position."
For answer, Rodney turned to the managing man, addressing him as curtly and peremptorily as if he had been some menial servant.
"Andrews, leave the room!"
The other's eyes opened still wider; probably he had never been so spoken to before, even by his late master in his most irascible moods. He drew up his spare and rather bowed figure with what he perhaps meant to be a touch of dignity.
"Mr. Elmore, the consequences will be very serious if you talk to me like that."