"
Claiborne walked slowly toward him, the anger glowing in his face.
"You are worse than I thought--eavesdropper, housebreaker!"
"Yes; I am both those things, Captain Claiborne. But I am also in a great
hurry. What do you want with me?"
"You are a rogue, an impostor--"
"We will grant that," said Armitage quietly. "Where is your warrant for
my arrest?"
"That will be forthcoming fast enough! I want you to understand that I
have a personal grievance against you."
"It must wait until day after to-morrow, Captain Claiborne. I will come
to you here or wherever you say on the day after to-morrow."
Armitage spoke with a deliberate sharp decision that was not the tone of
a rogue or a fugitive. As he spoke he advanced until he faced Claiborne
in the center of the room. Shirley still stood by the window, holding the
soiled paper in her hand. She had witnessed the change of men at the end
of the room; it had touched her humor; it had been a joke on her brother;
but she felt that the night had brought a crisis: she could not continue
to shield a man of whom she knew nothing save that he was the object of a
curious enmity.
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