“Whatever I did was done for you,” retorted the cornered man desperately.
“I beg your pardon. It was done for what was in it for you. The arrangement between us was purely a business one.”
The coolness of his even voice maddened the harassed Pelton.
“So I’m to get burnt drawing your chestnuts out of the fire, am I? You’re going to stand back and let my career be sacrificed, are you? By Gad, seh, I’ll show you whether I’ll be your catspaw,” screamed the congressman.
“Use your common sense, Pelton, and don’t shriek like a fish-wife,” ordered Ridgway sharply. “No sane man floats a leaky ship. Go to drydock and patch up your reputation, and in a few years you’ll come out as good as new.”
All his unprincipled life Pelton had compromised with honor to gain the coveted goal he now saw slipping from him. A kind of madness of despair surged up in him. He took a step threateningly toward the seated man, his hand slipping back under his coat-tails toward his hip pocket. Acridly his high voice rang out.
“As a Southern gentleman, seh, I refuse to tolerate the imputations you cast upon me. I demand an apology here and now, seh.”
Ridgway was on his feet and across the room like a flash.
“Don’t try to bully ME, you false alarm. Call yourself a Southern gentleman! You’re a shallow scurvy impostor. No more like the real article than a buzzard is like an eagle. Take your hand from under that coat or I’ll break every bone in your flabby body.”
Flabby was the word, morally no less than physically. Pelton quailed under that gaze which bored into him like a gimlet. The ebbing color in his face showed he could summon no reserve of courage sufficient to meet it. Slowly his empty hand came forth.