I am not going to turn cheat for anybody."
"Thank you. They seem to have taught you the art of plain speaking up at
Oxford--though, it appears," with a sneer, "they taught you very little
else. Well, then, now it is my turn to speak; and I tell you what it is,
young man, you will either instantly beg my pardon for what you have
said, or you will leave Meeson's for good and all."
"I won't beg your pardon for speaking the truth," said Eustace, hotly:
"the fact is that here you never hear the truth; all these poor devils
creep and crawl about you, and daren't call their souls their own. I
shall be devilish glad to get out of this place, I can tell you. All this
chickery and pokery makes me sick. The place stinks and reeks of sharp
practice and money-making--money-making by fair means or foul."
The elder man had, up till now, at all events to outward appearance, kept
his temper; but this last flower of vigorous English was altogether too
much for one whom the possession of so much money had for many years
shielded from hearing unpleasant truths put roughly. The man's face grew
like a devil's, his thick eyebrows contracted themselves, and his pale
lips quivered with fury. For a few seconds he could not speak, so great
was his emotion.
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