Page:Rowland--The Mountain of Fears.djvu/207

  a misconception, Mr. Stewart. I find you agreeable; you have done much to relieve my ennui; besides this, you appear to be necessary to the contentment of Madame the Countess.' He was putting Stewart with the servants, you see, Doctor, or lower. 'Go fetch the Countess,' he continued, briskly, 'and we will forget this folly; we will take our dear friend Dr. Leyden to Singapore. If it is that you cannot afford to lose the time from your affairs, I will make you my secretary at a salary of your own choosing.'

"Stewart for the moment was stricken dumb, too utterly amazed to speak; then the blood came pouring into his florid face and his eyes narrowed to mere slits—and then I grieve to say that all of his blackguardism came ripping out. He cursed the Count, the Countess, the schooner, himself; in fact, he gave such an exhibition of savage and unbridled rage as I have never seen before but once. You see, Doctor, the man was sufficiently intelligent to appreciate that he was [ 191 ]