I didn't say that." Old Demetrius here intervened as a peacemaker.
"You said it, John, you did indeed; but you were angry, and at such times a man says more than he means." "So far from being a robber or a vagabond," replied John, "he is one of the principal landowners in the Hatszegi district.

How _could_ I have said such things! He has a castle that is like a fortress.

He is like a prince, a veritable prince in his own domains.

He is just like a petty sovereign.

I must have been downright mad to call him a vagabond.