Vine. I ask you even no questions
concerning your friendship with my daughter. She is old enough to know
her own mind, and she has heard my views often enough; but I should like
you to know this, and to remember that I who say it am a man of many
faults, but one virtue: never in my life have I broken my word. If I
find that my niece has disappeared through any ill-usage of yours, I
will risk the few years that may be left to me of life, and I will shoot
you like a dog the first time that we meet."
Norris Vine looked gravely across at the man whose words so quietly
spoken, seemed yet from their very repression to be charged with an
intense dramatic force. He knew so well that the man who spoke them
meant what he said and would surely keep his word. He shrugged his
shoulders very slightly.
"My dear sir," he said, "I fear that I have misunderstood you. I could
have imagined your sentiment being aroused by the sight of a dollar bill
being burnt and wasted, but I never expected to see it kindled upon the
subject of your niece, or any other human being. I amend my judgment of
you. You are really not the man I thought you were. If your friends have
quite finished "--he took up his hat and glanced for a moment at his
watch.
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