Franklin walked close
up to the Sergeant. The two looked each other straight in the face. Mr.
Franklin spoke first, dropping his voice as suddenly as he had raised
it.
"I suppose you know, Mr. Cuff," he said, "that you are treading on
delicate ground?"
"It isn't the first time, by a good many hundreds, that I find myself
treading on delicate ground," answered the other, as immovable as ever.
"I am to understand that you forbid me to tell my aunt what has
happened?"
"You are to understand, if you please, sir, that I throw up the case, if
you tell Lady Verinder, or tell anybody, what has happened, until I give
you leave."
That settled it. Mr. Franklin had no choice but to submit. He turned
away in anger--and left us.
I had stood there listening to them, all in a tremble; not knowing whom
to suspect, or what to think next. In the midst of my confusion, two
things, however, were plain to me. First, that my young lady was, in
some unaccountable manner, at the bottom of the sharp speeches that had
passed between them. Second, that they thoroughly understood each other,
without having previously exchanged a word of explanation on either
side.
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