“You’ve been expecting to see me, I dare say,” he began, his eyes returning from their tour of inspection to the other man’s face.
“It occurred to me that you might wish——”
“Yes; I do,” interrupted David. “You’re entirely right, sir.”
Having said this much in a loud, aggressive tone, David stopped short. He had become suddenly aware that Jarvis was looking at—or rather, through—him, in a way which made him irritably conscious of his hands, his feet, the set of his collar, and the material of his light summer clothes. Then those strange eyes went deeper; they were busying themselves with his thoughts, his motives, they even saw his fears, which crowded forward, a cloud of gibbering shapes, out of his past.
He spoke again, hurriedly, and backed up his words with a laugh, which sounded foolishly loud in the quiet room.
“Well,” he said, “now that you’ve had time to look me over, how d’ you like me? Think I’ll do—eh?”
“No,” Jarvis said quietly, almost sadly. “I’m afraid not. But I don’t intend to trust my own judgment—entirely.”
He sighed deeply and looked down, as if there was nothing more to be seen or said.
David straightened himself in his chair with a jerk.
“See here,” he said truculently. “I was joking, you know; you were staring at me as if you’d never seen a human being before. But now I’d like you to answer me straight. What d’you mean by saying I ‘won’t do’? What business is it of yours what I——”
He choked a little with the rage that was consuming him.
“Why, confound your impudence!” he cried, his face flaming with anger.
“I owe you an apology, sir,” said Jarvis, with stately composure. “I ought not to have spoken as I did. But there is much at stake.”
He fell to staring at Jarvis, striving to imitate the other’s disconcerting look.
He had not intended to taunt his rival, but the words slipped out without volition. He was glad of it, in view of the blighting change that swept over the other’s face.
He was realizing all at once that the blow that felled Whitcomb must reach her tender breast also.
“There’s no use of beating about the bush,” David went on. “She told me about your visit to her the other night. At first I didn’t catch on about that remarkable client of yours and the care of the interesting child and all that. But when I got out of her the fact that you had been courting her while I was away, of course I was on to your little game.”