"Turn
around! Do you hear? Turn round--damn you! I'll kick you if you don't!"
Bunny turned. It was inevitable. They stood face to face. Then Saltash,
the mockery gone from his eyes, reached out abruptly and gripped him
by the arm. His touch was electric. For that moment--only for that
moment--he was dangerous. There was something of the spring of a tiger in
his action.
"You damn fool!" he said, and he spoke between his teeth. "Do you suppose
even I would play such a blackguard's game as that?"
"Let me go!" Bunny said through white lips. "Facts are facts."
Saltash's hold did not slacken. "Where's Jake?" he said.
"Jake's away."
"Confound him! Just when he's wanted!" The ferocity died out of Saltash
like the glow from cinders blown from a furnace. "Well, listen! I swear
to you by all that is sacred that you're making a mistake. Sheila has
told you a certain thing that is true, so far as it goes. But you've let
your imagination run away with you. The rest is false."
He spoke with an emphasis that carried weight, and Bunny was moved in
spite of himself. His own fire died down.
Saltash saw his advantage and pressed it. "If Jake were here, he'd tell
you I was speaking the truth, and you'd believe him.
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