For some reason or other you have a sudden grudge against a member of your staff.

I read your face, Mr.Lyne, and the weakness of your chin and the appetite of your mouth suggest to me that you are not over scrupulous with the women who are in your charge.

I guess rather than know that you have been turned down with a dull, sickening thud by a decent girl, and in your mortification you are attempting to invent a charge which has no substance and no foundation.
"Mr.Milburgh," he turned to the other, and again Mr.Milburgh ceased to smile, "has his own reasons for complying with your wishes.

He is your subordinate, and moreover, the side threat of penal servitude for him if he refuses has carried some weight." Thornton Lyne's face was distorted with fury.
"I will take care that your behaviour is widely advertised," he said.
"You have brought a most monstrous charge against me, and I shall proceed against you for slander.

The truth is that you are not equal to the job I intended giving you and you are finding an excuse for getting out." "The truth is," replied Tarling, biting off the end of a cigar he had taken from his pocket, "that my reputation is too good to be risked in associating with such a dirty business as yours.