the bundle, or I shall have to give you in charge of the constable as a thief.' "'You——!' he began, but stopped. Either his fears were touched or his cunning awakened, for after surveying me for a moment with mingled doubt and hatred, he suddenly altered his manner, till it became almost cringing, and muttering consolingly to himself, 'After all it is only a delay; everything will soon be mine,' he laid the bundle on the one board of the broken table beside[39] us, adding with hypocritical meekness: 'It was only some little keepsakes of my sister, not enough to make such a fuss about.' [39] "'I will see to these keepsakes,' said I, and was about to raise the bundle, when he sprang upon me. "'You——you——!' he cried. 'What right have you to touch them or to look at them? Because you drew up the will, does that make you an authority here? I don't believe it, and I won't see you put on the airs of it. I will go for the constable myself. I am not afraid of the law. I will see who is master in this house where I have lived in wretched slavery for years, and of which I shall be soon the owner.' "'Very well,' said I, 'let us go find the constable.' "The calmness with which I uttered this seemed at once to abash and infuriate him. "He alternately cringed and ruffled himself, shuffling from one foot to the other till I could scarcely conceal the disgust with which he inspired me. At last he blurted forth with forced bravado: "'Have I any rights, or haven't I any rights! You think because I don't know the law, that you can make a fool of me, but you can't. I may have lived like a dog, and I may not have a good coat to my back, but I am the man to whom this property has been given, as no one knows better than yourself; and if I chose to lift my foot and kick you out of that door for calling me a thief, who would blame me?—answer me that.' [40] "'No one,' said I, with a serenity equal to his fury, 'if this property is indeed to be yours, and if I know it as you say.' [40] "Struck by the suggestion implied in these words, as by a blow in the face for which he was wholly unprepared, he recoiled for a moment, looking at me with mingled doubt and amazement. "'And do you mean to deny to my face, within an hour of the fact, and with the very witnesses
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