Early as was the hour, he had already been indulging: his breath puffed sour.

Mahony prepared to state the object of his visit in no uncertain terms.

But his preliminaries were cut short by a volley of abuse.

The man accused him point-blank of having been privy to the rascally drayman's fraud and of having hoped, by lying low, to evade his liability.

Mahony lost his temper, and vowed that he would have Bolliver up for defamation of character.