A young clerk that had entered the store a few weeks ahead of him was a sly, mean, gnarly fellow, who showed a dislike to the new-comer and annoyed him in every way possible.

He was larger and apparently stronger than Tom, and seemed determined to provoke a quarrel with him.
Tom would have been glad to challenge him to a bout at fisticuffs, for he was confident he could vanquish him in short order.

He often yearned to do so.

More than once the hot defiance was tugging at his lips; but the memory of poor Jim Travers's parting words, "Tom, try to be better: I tell you, you won't be sorry when you come to die," restrained the angry utterance and the hasty blow.
Max Zeigler was one of those young men that are inherently mean.

He was born that way, and his ugly disposition increased with his years.