"Cleone," said Barnabas, humbly, "I--indeed I--couldn't help it. Oh,
Cleone--look up!" Yet, while he spoke, there came a rustling of
leaves near by and glancing thither, he saw Mr. Chichester surveying
them, smiling and debonair, and, striding forward, Barnabas
confronted him with scowling brow and fierce, menacing eyes.
"Rogue!" said he, his lips curling, "Rascal!"
"Ah!" nodded Mr. Chichester gently, "you have a pistol there, I see!"
"Your despicable villainy is known!" said Barnabas. "Ha!--smile if
you will, but while you knelt, pistol in hand, in the barn there,
had you troubled to look in the loft above your head you might have
murdered me, and none the wiser. As it is, I am alive, to strip you
of your heritage, and you still owe me twenty thousand guineas. Pah!
keep them to help you from the country, for I swear you shall be
hounded from every club in London; men shall know you for what you
are. Now go, before you tempt me to strangle you for a nauseous beast.
Go, I say!"
Smiling still, but with a devil looking from his narrowed eyes,
Mr. Chichester slowly viewed Barnabas from head to foot, and, turning,
strolled away, swinging his tasselled walking cane as he went, with
Barnabas close behind him, pistol in hand, even as they had once
walked months before.
Pages:
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636