“Diggens!” Clara exclaimed. “You’ve pulled Diggens!”
“Yes....”
“What did she do?” asked Fanny.
“Slow on payment. See? And always tryin’ to bargain for a lower price. Yesterday I get mad. Sort of lost my temper. Perhaps I was wrong. Old Dig was a right sort of bitch. Well—too late now. She’s pinched. Here’s good wine, at least.”
He kicked the case with heavy boots. He was big and sure. Fanny and Clara stood beneath his imperturbable mass.
—How can I thank him? He’s a brute. He’s a monster! Fanny spoke to him:
“Don’t kick that case, Lieutenant Jim.”
“Why? Afraid I’ll break the bottles?”
“No.... Afraid they’ll break you.”
“Break me!”