"You might have a little more consideration for my position," remarked Rupert, with a shrug.
"What consideration did you ever show to me?" snarled Mallien.
Rupert looked at the little man in amazement. "I have always been your good friend," he said after a pause. "I have given you money and----"
"My own money," interrupted the visitor. "Much thanks for that. It won't do, Rupert. I won't allow you to work on my feelings."
"I never knew that you had any to work on."
"No more I have. I want justice, and justice I intend to have."
"Don't make such a row over the matter," said Hendle contemptuously. "You shall have what you want. But you can scarcely expect me to walk out of this house this very minute. We must take the will to the lawyers and have it gone into. Since you are behaving so brutally, I am inclined to defend my position. There is the Statute of Limitations to be considered."
"And there is me to be considered," said a quiet voice at the door, and the two turned to see Dorinda at the door.
"You have been listening?" snapped her father.
"Yes, I have," she replied boldly, "and what I have heard shows me what a cruel nature you have, father."
"Don't speak to me in that way," stormed Mallien, furiously.
"Oh, yes, I shall"; and Dorinda entered to place her hand on Rupert's shoulder as if to give him confidence. "You have not got Rupert's money yet."
"But I shall get it. The will is plain enough."
Before Dorinda could reply, Rupert rose to his feet and made a gesture that she should be silent. "Leigh has something to say about the will, Mallien," he remarked, "and had you not come over I should have sent for you. Leigh wishes to see you and me and Dorinda."
"If Leigh intends to try on any hanky-panky," said Mallien, uneasily, for the summons seemed strange and ominous to him, "he'll find himself in the wrong box, I can tell you. You've been scheming with him, I expect, since he has been lying there."
"I have scarcely seen him," retorted Rupert, passing his arm round Dorinda's waist. "Tollart says he should be kept quiet."
"Yes, we shall. Leigh has something on his mind, and wants to see the three of us. Tollart has given permission, so we can go up to him now. Only I beg of you, Mallien, not to excite him, as he is very weak, and is not far from death. You understand."