Page:The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (emended first edition), Volume 3.djvu/61

Rh "Go to the deuce!" replied the latter, with an impatient jerk of the head. Hargrave withdrew with a look of cold disdain, saying,—

"You know where to find me, should you feel disposed to send a friend."

Muttered oaths and curses were all the answer this intimation obtained.

"Now Huntingdon, you see!" said Hattersley, "clear as the day."

"I don't care what he sees," said I, "or what he imagines; but you, Mr. Hattersley, when you hear my name belied and slandered, will you defend it?"

"I will. Blast me if I don't!"

I instantly departed, and shut myself into the library. What could possess me to make such a request of such a man? I cannot tell, but drowning men catch at straws: they had driven me desperate between them; I hardly knew what I said. There was no other to preserve my name from being blackened and aspersed among this nest of boon companions,