Willy Burke, or, The Irish orphan in America - Digital Repository ...

176 WILLY BURKE; OR,
need not try to screen the young rascal ; for the gallows
will have its due. How daie you accuse me of any such
thing ? I told you a little while ago, and I tell you again,
to beware how you talk to me in such a way". And he
shook his clenched fist at the old woman, who only
smiled at his impotent anger.
Suddenly Mr. Talbot, who had been a close, though
silent observer of this last episode, was seen to beckon
Mr. Weimar apart. After a few words spoken together,
they came forward, and Weimar said, in an authoritative
tone
—
*' Mrs. Malcolm, you show us to Mr. Wilson's room.
Wilson, you give me de key of your trunk".
" I have n't it about me, sir", was the
" Find it for me, and dat quickly, too".
confused reply.
" Well,
increasing
really, Mr. Weimar", said Wilson, with
embarrassment, " I must protest against my
trunk being examined. I do not recognise your right to
take such a liberty ;
to look for the key".
and, besides, I scarcely know where
" Den we '11 break de lock, dat 's all. Come, all of
you, to Mr. Wilson's room".
" Oh, then", said Wilson, forcing a laugh, and making
a violent effort to appear gay, though still his uneasiness
and embarrassment were distinctly visible—
" oh, then,
there would be no great use in carrying the joke farther ;
for if I went so far with it as to let you find the money
in my trunk, I might have some trouble in persuading you
that it was a joke. Here is the key, Mr. Weimar ; will
you go yourself, sir, for the parcel, or shall I ?"
94 So, then, it was you who took it, Wilson ?" said Mr.
Talbot, an indescribable expression of satisfaction