"The consequences will be very serious if you don't obey my orders."
"Your orders?"
"My orders. Are you going to leave the room, or am I to put you out?"
"Steady, young gentleman, steady. I have been your uncle's legal adviser for perhaps more years than you have been in the world, and am, therefore, intimately acquainted with his wishes. I am here to see those wishes carried out. I understand that you occupied a very humble position in this office, and, though accident made you his relative, you were not in possession of your uncle's confidence. Your position is in no way altered by his death, and you have no right to issue what you call orders here--emphatically not to Mr. Andrews. If there is any question as to who is to leave the room, it is certainly not Mr. Andrews who must go, but you."
"Mr. Wilkes, I do not propose to bandy words, and when I have once pointed out that you entirely misapprehend the situation on that subject I have done. All that Mr. Patterson had is now his daughter's, including this business and all that it implies. I am here as Miss Patterson's representative."
"Indeed! By whom appointed?"
"By Miss Patterson. I may inform you that Miss Patterson will shortly be my wife."
"Is that so? This is news. Since when has that arrangement been made?"
"Your words imply a sneer and an impertinence. That being so, I decline to enter into any further details with you beyond a bare statement of the fact."
"Are you not taking too much for granted in asserting that everything is left to Miss Patterson?"