“Girl! don’t presume too far on my forbearance!  I warn you in time to beware of that!”

“I presume nothing on any good trait of character or nobleness of soul you may possess, sir, but on your cowardice!”

“Do you wish to drive me to extremes?”

“You are already on the extremest verge of all that is vile and loathsome.”

“By the furies of h——­, I’ll not endure this longer!”

“Oh, yes, you will; you need not expect any other treatment so long as you continue to force your unwelcome and disgusting presence upon me.  I have not taken lessons in the school of which you were talking, in vain:  and as you set yourself up as a rival, just exercise your skill; I ask no favors, and fear not your opposition.”

“Yes, you do; with all your boasting, you fear me, coward though I be, at this very moment.”

“Yes, exactly as I fear the proximity of any other corrupt thing with which it is unpleasant to come in contact.  There is a certain small animal of the cat species, bearing, however, another and very significant name, with which it would be about as disagreeable to come in contact as with yourself; as I would fear it, so I fear you; in my estimation you are equally vile and equally to be avoided.”

Again Duffel grew red in the face with rage, and he was on the point of seizing and overpowering Eveline; but his eye fell upon the dagger, which she held in her hand, and prudence or cowardice held him back.  His response was given with savage malice: 

“I’ll take the fire out of your temper, ere you are many hours older; mark that!  You have gone too far for me longer to continue my gentle dealings toward you.  I have endeavored to persuade you, I have expostulated with you, and made all reasonable offers to induce you to acquiesce peaceably in your fate, which I would have made an honorable and enviable one; but you have treated all my kindness with contumely and misconstrued my forbearance into cowardice.  Now you must prepare for the worst.”

“Sir—­villain, rather, every word you have uttered is as false as the pit of night, and you know it!  Yes, sir, you know that as you stood there and spoke, unmitigated falsehoods fell from your lips while every declaration!  And knowing this, and knowing that I know it, also, you have the audacity and the insolent impudence to say that you have offered me an honorable position in life!  Is it possible that you are so fallen as not to know that in a truthful, virtuous, and noble soul there can be nothing so abhorrent as lying, villainy, and cowardice?  Talk of honor!  Better might Satan take of goodness!”

“Go on! you are only placing thorns in your path, every one of which will pierce you as a pang of agony.”

“I have no doubt you would like to intimidate me by such ominous remarks; but I have heard similar ones from the same source before; and knowing the distance which separates their author from truth, you may well rest assured I place implicit confidence in their falsity.”