Explore "A Front of Brass" by Fred M. White on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
The stranger appeared to be fully cognisant of the fact that he was master of the situation. To further emphasize the fact he laid a small ivory handled revolver on the table before him. There was a coolness about the whole proceeding that deprived Grant of the power of speech for a moment. He saw a little fat man with a tiny waxed moustache, a glass in his right eye, and a general suggestion of the middle aged dandy with him. There are scores of such men to be seen everyday in the service clubs in St. James's-street, but in this case there was an air of grimness and determination which there was no mistaking. The voice of the stranger was mincing and affected, but behind the falsetto an uneasiness that had almost a menace in it.
"Am I to understand that I am practically a prisoner?" Grant asked.