"Insult you, you young villain!" sneered he. "Insult me, you old villain! for I'm sure you have had a deal of experience in the villain line." "Will you answer my question, or not? Do you know where that girl is?" he continued, when he saw it was as easy for me to use harsh epithets as for him. "When I have dressed myself I will answer, but not till then," I replied, adjusting my collar with more than usual care. "Mr. Tom Thornton, I don't wish to quarrel with you on our first acquaintance. Besides it don't look well for near relations to quarrel." "What do you mean by near relations?" he asked, evincing some alarm. "Your name is Thornton, and so is mine. As you come to the house of my uncle, I suppose we must be relations. But I assure you I have no particular desire to claim kindred with you." "You are an impudent young cub; and if you are any relation to me, you shall have some of the starch taken out of you before you grow half an inch taller," replied Tom; and in the war of words I felt that I had the weather-gage of him, for I knew things of which he supposed I was entirely ignorant. "I don't think my impudence exceeds yours, Mr. Tom Thornton. You didn't come into my room behaving like a gentleman," I answered, as I put on my sack coat. "I am not in the habit of having a boy speak to me as you do." "I am not in the habit of having any one speak to me as you do," I retorted. "But I don't want to quarrel with you, as I said before." "Well, Mr. Ernest Thornton, if your high mightiness is ready to condescend to answer my question, I must beg the favor of a reply," sneered he, putting the lamp down upon the table. "Take a seat, Mr. Thornton. Your speech is improving," I added, throwing myself into a chair near my base of supplies. I think my visitor was entirely satisfied by this time that he could make nothing by bullying me; and it seemed to me that in reaching this point I had accomplished a great deal. Tom Thornton sat down in a chair, near the table where he had deposited the lamp. "Thank you, Mr. Ernest Thornton. I am seated, and await your further pleasure," he continued, with a curling lip. "You intimated that you came on business." "I certainly hinted as much as that." "And your business relates to Miss Kate Loraine?" "It does. I took the liberty to inquire if you knew where she was at the present time. A direct and unequivocal answer to this question would oblige your humble servant very much," said Tom, nervously; and I saw that it was with the greatest difficulty he could confine himself to this satirical style of speech--for he wanted to break out in menace and violence, to crush me with hard words and savage demonstrations, which prudent cunning restrained him from using. "Do you know where the girl is?" "I do," I replied, promptly. "I trust my reply is sufficiently direct and unequivocal."