"Last night, Doctor Hartley," he said, very quietly and coldly, "Mr. Armine, in Mrs. Armine's presence, expressed a strong wish to put himself in my hands. I came here with not the least intention of being impolite, but since you have chosen to make things difficult for me I must speak out. Last night Mr. Armine said, "I don't want anything more to do with Hartley. He knows nothing. I won't have him to-morrow." Mrs. Armine was with us and heard these words."
A violent flush showed through the brown on the young man's face. His round eyes stared with an expression of crude amazement that was almost laughable.
"He—he said—" he began. Then abruptly, allowing an American drawl to appear in his voice, he said, "Pardon! But I don't believe it."
"It's quite true, nevertheless."
"I don't believe it. That's a fact. I've seen Mr. Armine, and he was most delighted to welcome me. He put himself entirely in my hands. He asked me to 'save' him."
Suddenly Isaacson felt a sickness at his heart.
"I must see him," he almost muttered.
"I won't have him disturbed," said Doctor Hartley, with now the transparently open enmity of a very conceited man who had been insulted. "As his physician I forbid you to disturb my patient."
The two men looked at one another in silence.
"After what occurred last night, and what has occurred here to-day, I cannot go without seeing either Mr. or Mrs. Armine," Isaacson said at last.