urriedly, "I can't stand any more just now.
I--I couldn't really. Will you give me a week to think it over?"

The man laughed contemptuously.

"A few days, a few hours, then?"

There was something horrible in the humiliation of the girl's pleading,
but it made not the slightest impression on the ex-costermonger, who
had at one time been accustomed to enforcing his commands with the
buckle end of his waist-belt.

"Not a minute, not a second," he chortled, seeing the end of the chase
in sight. "Think of the 'old I have on yer aunt. Lady Susan Hetth,
sister of Colonel Bob 'etth, V.C., creeping out h'of a gentleman's
rooms at three h'o'clock of the mornin' an' payin' me 'ush money--think
of h'it. _Now_ what 'ev you got to say. Why don't you be sensible an'
quiet, gal? I've _got_ yer, it ain't no use kickin'. Be sensible an'
I'll smother you in di'monds, give yer two Rolls-Royce, yacht, Monty
Carlo any time, Park Lane--make every other woman want ter scratch yer
eyes out--what more _could_ yer want? Now what have yer got to say!"

What was there to say?

Aunt Susan tried to obliterate herself behind the window curtain; Sir
Walter, thumbs in armholes, tilted himself backwards and forwards on
toe and heel as Leonie came forward and leant with both hands the
table, as she looked from one to the other without speaking.

In fact the silence became intolerable to Sir Walter, who had expected,
and would have thoroughly enjoyed a heated altercation, in which he
would have known exactly where he was.

"Well, what 'ev yer got to say, my gel?"

Leonie looked from one to the other.

"I will marry you this day month, Sir Walter." She threw up her hand
as he laughed triumphantly. "Wait one moment! But until that day I
will have nothing to do with you, _nothing_. I will not meet you nor
go out with you, nor bother about a trousseau, nor the future in any
way. I shall go out and come in when I like, and go where and how I
like. I shall meet whom I like. I won't deceive you, I shall meet Jan
Cuxson just as often as I like. And I should advise you not to
interfere with me in any way. He is young and strong, and, as an old
friend of the family, might resent it. You can trust him, he is a
gentleman--which means--oh, well!--you will find the exact meaning in a
French dictionary."

She crossed to the door, turned, and looked, slowly from one to the
other.

"Is the bargain concluded?"

"Yes!--I'll take yer on tho