Look here," he added in a friendly whisper,
"you may as well tell me. Has he another wife?"
"Find out," was Greenacre's surly answer; "and go to the devil!"
A rush, a scuffling, a crash somewhere which shook the house. The
disturbed lodger flung open his door and shouted objurgations. From
below sounded the shrill alarm of Mrs. Bubb, from elsewhere the
anxious outcries of Mrs. Cheeseman and her husband.
Amid all this Greenacre and his quondam friend somehow reached the
foot of the stairs, where the darkness that enveloped their struggle
was all at once dispersed by a candle in the hand of Mrs. Bubb.
"Don't alarm yourself," shouted Gammon cheerily, "I'm only kicking
this fellow out. No one hurt."
"Well, Mr. Gammon, I do think--"
But the landlady's protest was cut short by a loud slamming of the
house-door.
"It's nothing," said the man of commerce, breathing hard. "Very
sorry to have disturbed you all. It shan't happen again. Good night,
Mrs. Bubb."
He ran up to his room, laughed a good deal as he undressed, and was
asleep five minutes afterwards.
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