“I tripped over a chair, he explained, glaring at his foe.
“Damn you then, stand up and fight!”
Disgust and annoyance were pictured on the damaged countenance of the lawyer. “I don't fight with riff raff from the streets.”
With a lurch Miller was free from Jeff and at him again. James lashed straight out and cut open his lip without stopping him. Jeff wrenched the furious man back again. A moment later he made a discovery. The fear of his cousin was not physical.
“Here! Stop it, man! What's the row about?” Jeff hung on with a strangle hold while he fired his questions.
Sam turned a distorted face toward him. “Nellie.”
The truth crashed home like a bolt of lightning. James was the man who had betrayed Nellie Anderson. The thing was incredible, but Jeff knew instantly it was so.
Except where the blood streamed down it the face of the lawyer was colorless. His lips twitched.
“Is this true, James?”
The sullen eyes of the detected man fell. “It will ruin me. It will ruin my career. And all because in a moment of fearful temptation I yielded, God help me.”