“He says he has something to say.”

“Surely it must be to you, Mortimer.”

“So I thought, but he says no. He says it is to you.”

“Yes, I do say so,” interposed the boy. “And I mean to say what I want to say, too, Mr. Eugene Wrayburn!”

Passing him with his eyes as if there were nothing where he stood, Eugene looked on to Bradley Headstone. With consummate indolence, he turned to Mortimer, inquiring: “And who may this other person be?”

“I am Charles Hexam’s friend,” said Bradley; “I am Charles Hexam’s schoolmaster.”

“My good sir, you should teach your pupils better manners,” returned Eugene.