As they stared again, eye to eye, M'Ginnis edged nearer and nearer, head thrust forward, until Ravenslee could see the cords that writhed and swelled in his big throat, and he hitched forward a languid shoulder. "Don't come any nearer, Flowers," said he, "and don't stick out your jaw like that--don't do it; I might be tempted to try to--er--hit it!" "What--you?" said M'Ginnis, and laughed hoarsely, while Ravenslee yawned again. "An' now, Mr. Butt-in, if you're still awake--listen here. I guess it's about time you stopped foolin' around Hermy Chesterton--an' you're goin' t' quit--see!" Ravenslee's eyes flashed suddenly, then drooped as M'Ginnis continued: "So you're goin' t' sit down right here, an' you're goin' t' write a nice little note of farewell, an' you're goin' t' tell her as you love her an' leave her because I say so--see? Ah!" he cried, suddenly hoarse and anger-choked, "d' ye think I'll let Hermy look at a thing like you--do ye?--do ye?" and he waited. Ravenslee sat utterly still, and when at last he spoke his voice sounded even more gentle than before. "My good Flowers, there is just one thing you shall not do, and that is, speak her name in my hearing. You're not fit to, and, Mr. Flowers, I'll not permit it." "Is that so?" snarled M'Ginnis, "well, then, listen some more. I know as you're always hangin' around her flat, and if Hermy don't care about losing her good name--" Even as Ravenslee's long arm shot out, M'Ginnis side-stepped the blow, and Ravenslee found himself staring into the muzzle of a revolver. "Ah--I thought so!" he breathed, and shrank away. "Kind of alters things, don't it?" enquired M'Ginnis, hoarse and jeering. "Well, if you don't want it to go off, sit down an' write Hermy as pretty a little note as you can--no, shut that window first." Silent and speechless, Ravenslee crossed to the window and drew down the sash, in doing which he noticed a dark something that crouched beneath the sill. "An' now," said M'Ginnis, leaning against a corner of the desk, "sit down here, nice an' close, an' write that letter--there's pen an' ink an' paper--an' quick about it or by--" M'Ginnis sprang up and turned as the glass of the window splintered to fragments, and, almost with the crash, Ravenslee leapt--a fierce twist, a vicious wrench, and the deadly weapon had changed hands.