His hands were clasped; he made a movement. His great prominent eyes were fixed on Richard Arden's face, which he was reading with a great deal of eagerness, it is true, but also with a dark and narrow shrewdness.
"Good heaven, Sir, don't stir, I implore! If you do, I must leave the room," said Richard, embarrassed to a degree that amounted to agitation. "And I must tell you, Sir--it is very painful, but, I could not help it, necessity drove me to it--if I were ever so desirous, it is out of my power now. I have dealt with my reversion. I have executed a deed."
"You have been with the Jews!" cried the old man, jumping to his feet. "You have been dealing, by way of _post obit_, with my estate!"
Richard Arden looked down. Sir Reginald was as nearly white as his yellow tint would allow; his large eyes were gleaming fire--he looked as if he would have snatched the poker, and brained his son.
"But what could I do, Sir? I had no other resource. I was forbidden your house; I had no money."
"You lie, Sir!" yelled the old man, with a sudden flash, and a hammer of his thin trembling fist on the table. "You had a hundred and fifty pounds a year of your mother's."
"But that, Sir, could not possibly support any one. I was compelled to act as I did. You really, Sir, left me no choice."
"Now, now, now, now, now! you're not to run away with the thing, you're not to run away with it; you sha'n't run away with it, Sir. You could have made a submission, you know you could. I was open to be reconciled at any time--always too ready. You had only to do as you ought to have done, and I'd have received you with open arms; you know I would--I _would_--you had only to unite our interests in the estates, and I'd have done everything to make you happy, and you know it. But you have taken the step--you have done it, and it is irrevocable. You have done it, and you've ruined me; and I pray to God you have ruined yourself!"
With every sinew quivering, the old man was pulling the bell-rope violently with his left hand. Over his shoulder, on his son, he glanced almost maniacally. "Turn him out!" he screamed to Crozier, stamping; "put him out by the collar. Shut the door upon him, and lock it; and if he ever dares to call here again, slam it in his face. I have done with him for ever!"