"How dare you----"
But the sentiment died down into his boots as the big man came at him with a sudden ferocity which seemed to cause the beating of his heart to cease.
"How dare I! You dare to speak a word to me. Liar! I will kill you where you stand."
"As for me," remarked the short man, affably, "I have this, and this." From one recess in his clothing he took a revolver. From another, a long, glittering, and business-like, if elegant, knife.
"All these years I have not been able to make up my mind if I will shoot you like a dog, or stick you like a pig--which you are."
"Gentlemen," explained Hubert, with surprising mildness, "I assure you you are under a misapprehension. The likeness between my brother and myself is so striking that our most intimate friends mistake one for the other."
"For whom, then, did my sister mistake you this morning and to-night?"
A light flashed upon Hubert's brain. "You mean Angel?"
"You call her Angel! He calls her Angel!"
"I hear," observed the little man.