til the person who brought you here says
you may go."

Bernardine's dark eyes flashed; she looked amazed.

"Do you mean to infer that I am to be detained here--against my will?"
demanded the girl.

"That is as you choose to look at it, miss. I am to coax you to keep me
company here, and, if you refuse, to insist upon your doing so; and
finally, if it becomes necessary, to _make_ you accede to my wishes, or,
rather, the wishes of the one who brought you here."

Bernardine drew herself up to her full height, and looked at the woman
with unflinching eyes, saying, slowly:

"You have lent yourself to a most cruel scheme to entrap an innocent
girl; but know this: I would die by my own hand sooner than marry the
villain who had me conveyed in this most despicable way to this isolated
place. I have no doubt you know the whole story; but I say this: When my
poor father died, I was freed forever from the power of my mortal foe.
His sword fell from over my head, where he had held it suspended. He can
not pursue my hapless father beyond the gates of death."

"What you are talking about is an enigma to me," returned the woman,
grimly.

"If he has not told you the truth about this matter, listen to me, and
let me tell it," cried Bernardine, trembling with excitement. "I--I have
known this man who had me brought here for long years, and I know him
only to fear and distrust him--more than words can express.

"One day, quite by accident, he met me on the street--right before my
own door--and he stopped short, looking at me with evident admiration
expressed in his coarse face and glittering black eyes."

"'Ah, ha! you turn up your little nose at me, eh?' he cried. 'Well, you
shall be sorry for that, and in a fortnight, too, I'll warrant.'

"I would have passed him by without deigning him a reply; but he caught
me by the shoulder, and held me fast.

"'No, you don't move on like that!' he yelled in my ear, a great flush
rising to his already florid, wine-stained features. 'You shall kiss me,
my pretty, here and now!'

"I endeavored to pass him, but he still clutched me tightly, fiercely in
his strong grasp, and I--I dealt him a stinging blow across the face
with the palm of my hand.

"The action surprised him so that he released me from his grasp for a
single instant, and in that instant I darted away from him like a
startled hare.

"'You shall pay for this!' he cried, looking after me. 'He laughs best
who laughs last!'