"
"She'll come if you tell her. If you'll let them understand that she
must come they'll give way. You can try it at any rate."
"I shall do nothing of the kind. Why should I ask her to submit
herself to misery?"
"Misery! What misery? Why should she be miserable? Must a woman need
be miserable because she lives with her husband? You hear me say that
I will forgive everything. Even she will not doubt me when I say so,
because I have never lied to her. Let her come back to me, and she
shall live in peace and quiet, and hear no word of reproach."
"I can have nothing to do with it, Mr. Kennedy."
"Then, sir, you shall abide my wrath." With that he sprang quickly
round, grasping at something which lay upon a shelf near him, and
Phineas saw that he was armed with a pistol. Phineas, who had
hitherto been seated, leaped to his legs; but the pistol in a moment
was at his head, and the madman pulled at the trigger. But the
mechanism of the instrument required that some bolt should be loosed
before the hammer would fall upon the nipple, and the unhandy wretch
for an instant fumbled over the work so that Phineas, still facing
his enemy, had time to leap backwards towards the door.
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