“What do you mean, sir, by staring at my friend in that way?”
His voice, his gaze, his attitude, were truculent. O’Hagan was delighted with such a display of spirit. He dropped the glass and bowed.
“If your friend has complained of me, sir, I shall never forgive myself.”
“I await no complaint from her. I am complaining, confound your impudence!”
O’Hagan raised the glass again, measuring the depths of the speaker’s resentment. He considered the words ill-chosen and ill-mannered; and instantly had revised his estimate of the speaker’s character.
“An entirely different matter, sir,” says he. “You can go to the devil.”
The other flushed and thrust himself nearer to the suave Captain.
“You overdressed puppy!” he rapped furiously. “I have a mind to knock you down!”
Dropped the monocle; and a slip of pasteboard was thrust into the hand of the irate man.
“Your card, sir!” demanded O’Hagan. “At a more fitting time I will afford you every facility.”