"That's a lie!" Graveling exclaimed furiously. "You're my girl. I've hung around after you for six years. I've known you since you were a child. I'll be d--d if I'll be thrown on one side now and see you become another man's mistress--especially his!" He came a step further into the room. Maraton, who had been standing with his back to them, arranging some papers on his desk, turned slowly around. Graveling was advancing towards him with the air of a bully. "Do you hear--you--Maraton?" he cried. "I've had enough of you! You can flout us all at our work, if you like, but you go a bit too far when you think to make a plaything of my girl. Do you hear that?" "Perfectly," Maraton replied. "And what have you got to say about it?" Maraton shrugged his shoulders slightly. "I don't know that I have anything particular to say about it. If it interests you to be told my opinion of you, you are welcome to hear it." Graveling advanced a step nearer still. His fists were clenched, an ugly scowl had parted his lips. Julia came swiftly from her seat. Her eyes were filled with fury. She faced Graveling. "Richard Graveling," she exclaimed, "I am ashamed to think that I ever let you call yourself my friend! If you do not leave the room and the house at once, I swear that I will never speak to you again as long as I live!" He pushed her aside roughly. "I'll talk to you presently," he declared. "It's him that my business is with now." Maraton's eyes flashed a little dangerously. "Keep your hands off that young lady," he ordered. "You'd like her to protect you, would you?" Graveling taunted. "Listen here. I'm not the sort of man to have my girl taken away and made another man's plaything. Is she going to stop here? Answer me quickly." "As long as she chooses," Maraton replied. "Then take that!" Graveling shouted. Maraton stepped lightly to one side. Graveling was overbalanced by his fierce blow into the empty air. The next moment he was lying on his back, and the room seemed to be spinning around him. Maraton was standing with his finger upon the bell. Julia was by his side, her eyes blazing. She spoke never a word, but as Graveling struggled back to his senses he could see the scorn upon her face. Aaron and a man servant entered the room simultaneously. Maraton pointed to the figure upon the floor. "Aaron," he said, "your friend Mr. Graveling has met with a slight accident. You had better take him outside and put him in a taxicab." Graveling rose painfully to his feet. He was very pale, and there was blood upon his cheek. He leaned on Aaron's arm and he looked towards Maraton and Julia. "Better apologise and shake hands," Maraton advised quietly. Graveling seemed not to have heard him. He looked towards them both, and his fingers gripped Aaron's shoulder so that the young man winced with pain. Then without a single word he turned towards the door.