'If ye touch me wi' that, I'll smash ye, by ----!' shouted Dudley, furious,
raising his hands and hitching his shoulder, just as I had seen him when he
fought Captain Oakley.
For a moment this picture was suspended before me, and I screamed, I know
not what, in my terror. But the old man, the veteran of many a scene of
excitement, where men disguise their ferocity in calm tones, and varnish
their fury with smiles, had not quite lost his self-command. He turned
toward me and said--
'Does he know what he's saying?'
And with an icy laugh of contempt, his high, thin forehead still flushed,
he sat down trembling.
'If you want to say aught, I'll hear ye. Ye may jaw me all ye like, and
I'll stan' it.'
'Oh, I may speak? Thank you,' sneered Uncle Silas, glancing slowly round at
me, and breaking into a cold laugh.
'Ay, I don't mind cheek, not I; but you must not go for to do that, ye
know. Gammon. I won't stand a blow--I won't fro _no_ one.
'Well, sir, availing myself of your permission to speak, I may remark,
without offence to the young lady, that I don't happen to recollect the
name Mangles among the old families of England.
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