“Shall I tell him that you think he stole your papers?”
“That's a fact, too.”
Lanny saw that his father was in an implacable mood; and, rattled as the boy was, he had sense enough to know what it meant. Robbie wished to teach him a lesson, so that he wouldn't turn into a thief. “All right,” he said. “Whatever you say.”
He took the letter and started toward the door. Then, an idea occurring to him, he turned. “Suppose he beats me?”
“I don't think he'll do that,” replied the other. “You see, he's a coward.”
X
Lanny went by the stairway, not wanting anybody to see him. He knew the room number. He knocked, and to a young man who came to the door he said: “I have a letter for M. Zaharoff.”
“May I have it, please?” asked the man.
“I have to hand it to him personally.”
The secretary took him in with practiced professional eye. “Will you give me your name?”