"If it were any other
man but you, I'd blow out his brains."
Hollington got up from the chair he had taken and, grasping Dartmouth
by the shoulders, threw him back into his chair.
"Now look here, Harold," he said; "let us have no more damned
nonsense. If you will indulge in lugubrious hints which have but
one meaning, you must expect the consequences. I refuse to listen to
another word unless you come out and speak plain English."
He resumed his seat, and Dartmouth clasped his hands behind his head
and stared moodily at the fire. In a few moments he turned his eyes
and fixed them on Hollington.
"Very well," he said, "I will tell you the whole story from beginning
to end. Heaven knows it is a relief to speak; but if you laugh, I
believe I shall kill you."
"I will not laugh," said Hollington. "Whatever it is, I see it has
gone hard with you."
Dartmouth began with the night of the first attempt of his
suppressed poetical genius to manifest itself, and gave Hollington a
comprehensive account of each detail of his subsequent experiences,
down to the reading of the letters and the spiritual retrospect they
had induced.
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