But that will not be till I please."
I cried out on him as a scoundrel, though vexed with myself for
such mere windiness of utterance. The truth is, want of sleep and
the discomforts of the night were like to throw me into a real
fever, and the dismay I felt at this possibility helped me to pull
myself together. When I spoke again 'twas calmly, without heat.
"You are playing a fool's game," I said. "You are exceeding your
rights as representative of Sir Richard Cludde, and you may be sure
you will be called to a heavy account if you deal wrongfully with
the estate or its owner. Pull up before it is too late; there are
sundry things against you in England that will not dispose the
courts to show you mercy."
"Hark to him!" cries Vetch with an evil sneer. "He turns preacher!
You fool! Who are you to foist yourself into the concerns of your
betters--a fellow only saved from the gutter by charity! While the
girl is a minor I will deal with this estate as I please; and when
she comes of age, then--"
He paused, an inscrutable look upon his face.
"Then Humphrey Bold may go hang," he said, and with a smile that
made me feel wondrous uneasy he shut the door upon me and departed.
Of all the mischances I had suffered, this was, I thought, the most
afflicting. In the others it was only myself that was concerned,
and a man who sets out to conquer fortune must expect his share of
buffets by the way. But my own ill hap was as nothing compared with
the dangers I felt to be hovering about Mistress Lucy, and to know
myself helpless when she was in sore need was as a crushing weight
upon my heart.
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