[ By's mouth thins. He pushes his hands into his pockets. But - if Miles isn't going to let this out of his teeth...He can, after all, simply order Byerly to respond. So, finally, his voice rather stiff, By responds: ]

He despised me. He despised everyone, to be clear, but he hated me to a truly uncommon degree. And I'm sure you've noticed how I cannot abide someone trying to outdo me, so I endeavored to hate him even more than he did me. I suppose our competition would be ongoing if the old man weren't on ice now.