WYLDER'S HAJVD. 221
"Well, let me go; that will do," said he, glowering
furiously at Lake, who confronted him, in the same atti-
tude, a couple of yards away. "You'll hear," and he
turned away.
"I am at the ' Brandon Arms' till to-morrow," said
Lake, ve^ry quietly, to the gentleman in moustaches, who
bowed slightly, and walked out of the room with Sir Har-
ry.
Lake poured out some sherry in a tumbler, and drank
it off. He was a little bit stunned, I think, in his new
situation.
Except for the waiters, and the actors in it, it so hap-
pened that the supper-room was empty during this sudden
fracas. Lake stared at the frightened girl, in his fierce
abstraction. Then, with his wild gaze, he followed the
line of his adversary's retreat, and shook his ears slightly
like a man at whose hair a wasp has buzzed.
"Thank you/' said he to the maid, suddenly recollect-
ing himself, with a sort of smile; "That will do. What
confounded nonsense! He'll be quite cool again in five
minutes. Never mind."
And Lake pulled on his white glove, glancing down the
file of silent waiters —some looking frightened, and some
reserved — in white ties and waistcoats, and he glided out
of the room — his mind somewhere else — like a somnam-
bulist.