“It’s amusing, isn’t it?” sneered Mr Bickers.
“It’s absurd!” said Railsford.
“I thought you would say so,” said Bickers, taking back the letter and folding it up. “For all that, I should like to know the name of the person referred to.”
“You surely do not mean, Bickers, that you attach any importance to a ridiculous joke like that?”
“I attach just the importance it deserves, Railsford.”
“Then I would put it in the fire, Bickers.”
Mr Bickers’s face darkened. Long ere now he had calculated on reducing the citadel of his adversary’s good-humour, and now that it still held out, he felt his own self-possession deserting him.
“Allow me to tell you, Railsford, that I believe what that letter states!”
“Do you really? I hope when I tell you that every word of it which relates to myself is a grotesque falsehood, you will alter your opinion.”
“Even that would not convince me,” said Bickers.