"What do you mean?" demanded Halbert, his sallow face slightly flushing.

"My name is Robert Rushton. Call me by either of these names when you
speak to me, and don't say 'you fellow.'"

"It seems to me," sneered Halbert, "that you are putting on airs for a
factory boy."

"I am a factory boy, I acknowledge, and am not ashamed to acknowledge
it. Is this all you have to say to me? If so, I will pass on, as I am in
haste."

"I have something else to say to you. You were impudent to me last
evening."

"Was I? Tell me how."

"Did you not insist on going home with Hester Paine, when I had offered
my escort?"

"What of that?"

"You forget your place."

"My place was at Hester Paine's side, since she had accepted my escort."

"It was very presumptuous in a factory boy like you offering your escort
to a young lady like Miss Paine."

"I don't see it," said Robert, independently; "and I don't think it