II.
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EST, standing in the doorway of a house in the rue Serpente, was speaking angrily. He said he didn’t care whether Hartman liked it or not; he was telling him, not arguing with him.
“You call yourself an American!” he sneered; “Berlin and hell are full of that kind of American. You come loafing about Colette with your pockets stuffed with white bread and beef, and a bottle of wine at thirty francs and you can’t really afford to give a dollar to the American Ambulance and Public Assistance, which Braith does, and he’s half starved!”
Hartman retreated to the curbstone, but West followed him, his face like a thunder-cloud. “Don’t you dare to call yourself a countryman of mine,” he growled,—“no,—nor an artist either! Artists don’t worm themselves into the service of the Public Defense where they do nothing but feed like rats on the people’s food! And I’ll tell you now,” he continued, dropping his voice, for Hartman had started as though stung, “you might better keep away from that Alsatian Brasserie and the smug-faced thieves who haunt it. You know what they do with suspects!”
“You lie, you hound!” screamed Hartman, and flung the bottle in his hand straight at West’s face. West had him by the throat
