. You will pay it now--in full, freely, both arms round my
neck. Come, I've a right to ask that much. It's just a whim that you
can't refuse to gratify."

"I can refuse!" The words leaped from Olga. Her strength was returning,
her heart quickening with every instant. "At least you can't make me do
that!" she said.

"You would rather do it than marry me, I presume?" he said.

"I will never do either!" She stirred at last in his hold. She did not
shrink from his eyes any longer; rather she challenged them as she
stiffened herself to rise.

Hunt-Goring laughed in her face. "Oh, won't you?" he said. "I fancy you
said that once before--and lived to regret it. It really is not wise of
you to defy me. I warn you! I warn you!" His hold tightened upon her
with sudden brutality, quelling her effort at freedom. "There are worse
things than marriage," he said. "Are you utterly ignorant, I wonder, or
deliberately foolhardy? Why do you always force upon me the _role_ of
villain? I tell you again, you are not wise!"

"I don't know what you mean," Olga said. She sat quite still in his hold
now, for she knew that resistance was useless. Like Noel, she suddenly
wondered if he were indeed sane. His eyes were unlike any she had ever
seen in a human being. They glared upon her so devilishly, so
murderously. She faced them with all her courage. "I don't know what you
mean," she repeated. "I think you must be mad to persecute me in this
way. I have always said that I would never marry you."

"But you will change your mind," he said.

She kept her eyes on his. "I shall never change my mind," she said very
distinctly.

He laughed again, his lower lip between his teeth. "Even if I were mad,"
he said, "wouldn't you be wiser to humour me? Have you forgotten what
happened when you flouted me before?"

"No, I have not forgotten." A quiver of anger went through Olga, and she
suffered it, for it helped her courage. "I shall never forgive you for
that," she said--"never, as long as I live!"

Hunt-Goring continued to laugh, and his laugh was an insult. "I shall
get over that," he told her. "I don't want your forgiveness--especially
as you had yourself alone to thank for that episode. But come now! About
marrying me. You'd better give in at once; you'll have to in the end.
And there are plenty of advantages to outweigh your present
disinclination. For instance, my life is not considered a good one. As
my widow, you would be quite a wealthy wo