"
"I want your check for two hundred dollars--no more," said Martin, in
a modified tone--"I will not be hard on you. Necessity drives me to
this resort; but I hope never to trouble you again."
"Not a dollar," replied Jasper, firmly. "And now, my friend, seek
some other mode of sustaining yourself in vice and idleness. You have
received from me your last contribution. In settling the estate
of Reuben Elder to the entire satisfaction of all parties, I have
disarmed you. You have no further power to hurt."
"You may find yourself mistaken in regard to my power," replied
Martin as he made a movement toward the door, and threw back upon the
merchant a side-glance of the keenest malignity. "Many a foot has been
stung by the reptile it spurned."
The word "stay" came not to Jasper's lips. He was fully in earnest.
Martin paused, with his hand on the door, and said--
"One hundred dollars will do."
"Not a copper, if it were to save you from the nether regions!"
cried Jasper, his anger and indignation o'erleaping the boundaries of
self-control.
He was alone in the next moment. As his excitement cooled down, he
felt by no means indifferent to the consequences which might follow
this rupture with Martin. More than one thought presented itself,
which, if it could have been weighed calmly a few minutes before,
would have caused a slightly modified treatment of his unwelcome
visitor.
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