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confusion. "Is this the man?" she said to Dangle, and forthwith, "How
DARE you, sir? How dare you face me? That poor girl!"
"You will permit me to observe," began Mr. Hoopdriver, with a splendid
drawl, seeing himself, for the first time in all this business, as a
romantic villain.
"
Ugh," said Miss Mergle, unexpectedly striking him about the midriff
with her extended palms, and sending him staggering backward into the
hall of the hotel.
"
Let me pass," said Miss Mergle, in towering indignation. "How dare
you resist my passage?" and so swept by him and into the dining-room,
wherein Jessie had sought refuge.
As Mr. Hoopdriver struggled for equilibrium with the umbrella-stand,
Dangle and Phipps, roused from their inertia by Miss Mergle's activity,
came in upon her heels, Phipps leading. "How dare you prevent that lady
passing?" said Phipps.
Mr. Hoopdriver looked obstinate, and, to Dangle's sense, dangerous, but
he made no answer. A waiter in full bloom appeared at the end of the
passage, guardant. "It is men of your stamp, sir," said Phipps, "who
discredit manhood."
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