He would not answer Jack's chagrined vilifications, except with an occasional amused invitation to go to the devil.

It had been his custom, therefore, to conduct himself thus toward others who insulted him at all, and now seeing that Cicero was not so anxious about abusing him as about obtaining similar abuse in return and was merely desirous of being put on an equality with him, he paid little heed to his traducer, acting as if nothing had been said; indeed, he allowed him to employ vilifications unstintedly, as if they were praises showered upon him.