"I hope that little document has refreshed
your memory?" hinted the colonel politely.
Arthur shook his head. "I know no one of that
name," he repeated in a dull, hard voice. "There
must be some mistake."
"Mistake? Oh, nonsense! Come, Mr. Burton,
chivalry and quixotism are very fine things in
their way; but there's no use in overdoing them.
It's an error all you young people fall into at first.
Come, think! What good is it for you to compromise
yourself and spoil your prospects in life over
a simple formality about a man that has betrayed
you? You see yourself, he wasn't so particular
as to what he said about you."
A faint shade of something like mockery had
crept into the colonel's voice. Arthur looked
up with a start; a sudden light flashed upon his
mind.
"It's a lie!" he cried out. "It's a forgery! I
can see it in your face, you cowardly----You've
got some prisoner there you want to compromise,
or a trap you want to drag me into. You are a forger,
and a liar, and a scoundrel----"
"Silence!" shouted the colonel, starting up in a
rage; his two colleagues were already on their
feet.
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