“Ha-a-a-ah!”—­a general cry of derision from the listeners.

“Defend himself!” exclaimed their spokesman; “shall I tell you again what he is?” In his vehemence, the speaker wagged his chin and held his clenched fists stiffly toward the floor.  “He is—­he is—­he is—­”

He paused, breathing like a fighting dog.  Frowenfeld, large, white, and immovable, stood close before him.

“Dey ’ad no bizniz led ’im come oud to-day,” said a bystander, edging toward a pillar.

The Creole, a small young man not unknown to us, glared upon the apothecary; but Frowenfeld was far above his blushing mood, and was not disconcerted.  This exasperated the Creole beyond bound; he made a sudden, angry change of attitude, and demanded: 

“Do you interrup’ two gen’lemen in dey conve’sition, you Yankee clown?  Do you igno’ dad you ’ave insult me, off-scow’ing?”

Frowenfeld’s first response was a stern gaze.  When he spoke, he said: 

“Sir, I am not aware that I have ever offered you the slightest injury or affront; if you wish to finish your conversation with this gentleman, I will wait till you are through.”

The Creole bowed, as a knight who takes up the gage.  He turned to Valentine.

“Valentine, I was sayin’ to you dad diz pusson is a cowa’d and a sneak; I repead thad!  I repead id!  I spurn you!  Go f’om yeh!”

The apothecary stood like a cliff.

It was too much for Creole forbearance.  His adversary, with a long snarl of oaths, sprang forward and with a great sweep of his arm slapped the apothecary on the cheek.  And then—­

What a silence!

Frowenfeld had advanced one step; his opponent stood half turned away, but with his face toward the face he had just struck and his eyes glaring up into the eyes of the apothecary.  The semicircle was dissolved, and each man stood in neutral isolation, motionless and silent.  For one instant objects lost all natural proportion, and to the expectant on-lookers the largest thing in the room was the big, upraised, white fist of Frowenfeld.  But in the next—­how was this?  Could it be that that fist had not descended?

The imperturbable Valentine, with one preventing arm laid across the breast of the expected victim and an open hand held restrainingly up for truce, stood between the two men and said: 

“Professor Frowenfeld—­one moment—­”

Frowenfeld’s face was ashen.

“Don’t speak, sir!” he exclaimed.  “If I attempt to parley I shall break every bone in his body.  Don’t speak!  I can guess your explanation—­he is drunk.  But take him away.”

Valentine, as sensible as cool, assisted by the kinsman who had laid a hand on his arm, shuffled his enraged companion out.  Frowenfeld’s still swelling anger was so near getting the better of him that he unconsciously followed a quick step or two; but as Valentine looked back and waved him to stop, he again stood still.