"Colonel Grand," said David very slowly, controlling himself admirably, "if it were not that I now regard it as my sacred duty to stay with this show, I would defy you, sir, and denounce you, let the consequences be as disastrous to me as you like. I am not afraid of you. I _can_ go back home--to jail--with my head up and my heart clean, if you choose to send me there. I am not afraid of even that. But I _am_ afraid of something else. That is why I am ready to bear your insults, to humble myself, to submit to your--your commands. Not for my own safety, but for the safety of others. Permit me, sir, as a gentleman, to assure you that you can depend on me to carry out at least a part of your instructions as faithfully as God will let me. I mean by that, sir, your instructions to _protect the ladies!_" He turned on his heel and left the Colonel standing there, a flush mounting to his flabby cheek. "Braddock," he said, a few minutes later, "I'm going to break that Jenison boy if it takes me a year--yes, ten years." "What's up?" demanded Braddock, rolling his cigar over uneasily. "Been sassing you?" "People of his class do not sass, as you call it," said Colonel Grand shortly. "Well, shall I kick him out of the show?" asked the other, perplexed. Remembering David's money, he supplemented quickly: "Say in a week or two?" "No. That is just what I don't want you to do. He stays, Braddock. Understand?" "All right," agreed the other hastily. "I like the kid. He's good company for Christie, too. _Tony_ sort of a chap, ain't he? I can tell 'em every pop. I said to my wife that first night--" "Yes, yes, you you've told me that," interrupted Grand impatiently. "You keep him here, that's all. When I'm through with him you may kick him out. There won't be much left to kick." For a long time after the departure of his new partner, Thomas Braddock's attitude of extreme thoughtfulness puzzled those who took the trouble to observe him. At last, when his cigar was chewed to a pulp and the night's performance was half over, light broke in upon him. He fancied that he had solved the Colonel's designs regarding David Jenison. His face cleared, but again clouded ominously; he conversed with himself, aloud.