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248 "You are the last person in the world to do any such thing, Polk. You know how to spend money, but there is nothing charitable in your make-up."

"You think you have got a case against my father, and now you are trying to make out a case against me."

"You are making out the case against yourself. Why don't you leave the Bartletts alone?"

"I haven't hurt them."

"Mr. Bartlett is very sick, and must not be disturbed."

"I came thousands of miles to see him."

"That makes no difference. You have got to leave him alone, so long as Mrs. Bartlett wishes it."

"Is that another of your orders?"

"It is. And, let me add, I am going to see that it is enforced. If you are caught around that house again without the lady's permission, I will have you placed under arrest, and stowed away in the Tien-Tsin prison. That prison is about the worst hole I have yet seen; and, if you know when you are well off, you'll do your best to keep out of it."

"You think you are big because you are a lieutenant," blustered Nuggy.