own and said he never seen the pin, nor knowed there was one;
while she--wall, I swow, if she didn't start round lively for a woman
with her leg bandaged up in vinegar and flannel. When I called the brat
a thief and said I'd have him arrested, she made for the door and
ordered me out--me, Joe Peterkin, of the 'Liza Ann! I'll make her smart,
though, wus than the rheumatiz. I'll make her feel the heft--'

He did not have time to finish the sentence, for the tiger in Arthur was
fully roused, and with a bound toward Peterkin he opened the door, and,
in a voice which seemed to fill the room, although it was only a
whisper, he said:

'Clown! loafer! puff-ball! Leave my house instantly, and never enter it
again until you have apologized to Mrs. Crawford and her grandson for
the insult offered them by your vile accusations. If it were not for
soiling my hands, I would throw you down the steps,' he continued, as he
stood holding the door open, and looking with his flashing eyes and
dilated nostrils, as if he were fully equal to anything.

Like most men of the boasting sort, Peterkin was a coward, and though he
probably had twice the strength of Arthur, he went through the door-way
out upon the piazza, where he stopped, and, with a flourish of his fist,
denounced the whole Tracy tribe, declaring them but a race of upstarts,
no better than he was, and saying he would yet be even with them, and
make them feel the heft of his powerful disapprobation. Whatever else he
said was not heard, for Arthur shut the door upon him, and returning to
the library, where his brother stood, pale, trembling, and anxious for
the votes he felt he had lost, he became on the instant as quiet and
gentle as a child, and, consulting his watch, said in his natural tone:

'Quarter of seven, and the train is due at half-past. Please tell John
to have the carriage ready. I am going myself this time.'

Frank opened his lips to protest against it, but something in his
brother's manner kept him quiet and submissive. He was no longer master
there--unless--unless--he scarcely dared whisper to himself what; but
when the carriage went for the fourth time to the station after Gretchen
and returned without her, he said to his wife:

'I think Arthur is crazy, and possibly we shall have to shut him up.'

'Yes, I wish you would,' was Dolly's reply, in a tone of relief, for,
thus far, Arthur's presence in the house had not added to her comfort.
'Of course he is crazy