You haven't very long to live, anyhow. Go!
Imshi, Vootsak,--get out!" The man departed, staggering and dazed. Dick drew a
long breath: "Phew! what a lawless lot these people are! The first thing a poor
orphan meets is gang robbery, organised burglary! Think of the hideous
blackness of that man's mind! Are my sketches all right, Torp?"
"Yes; one hundred and forty-seven of them. Well, I must say, Dick, you've begun
well."
"He was interfering with me. It only meant a few pounds to him, but it was
everything to me. I don't think he'll bring an action. I gave him some medical
advice gratis about the state of his body. It was cheap at the little flurry it
cost him. Now, let's look at my things."
Two minutes later Dick had thrown himself down on the floor and was deep in the
portfolio, chuckling lovingly as he turned the drawings over and thought of the
price at which they had been bought.
The afternoon was well advanced when Torpenhow came to the door and saw Dick
dancing a wild saraband under the skylight.
"I builded better than I knew, Torp," he said, without stopping the dance.
"They're good! They're damned good! They'll go like flame! I shall have an
exhibition of them on my own brazen hook. And that man would have cheated me
out of it! Do you know that I'm sorry now that I didn't actually hit him?"
"Go out," said Torpenhow,--"go out and pray to be delivered from the sin of
arrogance, which you never will be.
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