"
"Oh," I answered scornfully, "not jealous in the ordinary sense of
the word, a bit. But I don't think your company good company for
my wife, Brake. If you WILL have it out of me, I suspect you of
being a Roman Catholic, and of trying to convert my wife."
A smile shot across his face, and I saw his sharp white teeth gleam
for an instant in the dusk.
"Well, what if I am a Papist?" he said, with a strange tone of
triumph in his voice. "The faith is not criminal. Besides, what
proof have you that I was attempting to proselyte your wife?"
"This," said I, pulling the leaf from my pocket--"this leaf from
one of those devilish Papist books you and she were reading this
evening. I picked it up from the floor. Proof enough, I think!"
In an instant Brake had snatched the leaf from my hand and torn it
into atoms.
"You shall be obeyed," he said. "I will not speak with Elsie as
long as she is your wife. Good night. You think I'm a Papist,
then, Dayton? You're a clever fellow!"
And with rather a sneering chuckle he marched on along the road and
vanished into the darkness.
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