ale white blossom, held him at bay,
more by her seeming indifference to the fate before her than by any
effort of will she made to combat the danger.

Blase to tears of the exquisite women of his own country with their
lustrous brown eyes, marvellous languorous figures, and well-trained,
inherited ideas on love, the man was violently attracted by the
whiteness of this girl allied to her indifferent manner and an intense
virility which seemed to envelop her from head to foot.

True, there are natives of a white and surpassing beauty, but which
whiteness when compared to the genuine colouring of a _very_ fair
Englishwoman has the same effect on the purchaser or temporary owner as
would a white sapphire bought in mistake for a diamond.

Very, very beautiful, but somehow giving an impression of masquerade.

"Your so _valuable_ dressing-case is behind those cushions,
Mademoiselle, but you shall have things of gold to adorn your
apartment, at least for a time. I tire easily even of the most perfect
fruit, but I have friends, oh, many who are not so easily wearied!"

The man paused a moment as though awaiting some outburst, but none
forthcoming continued the enlightening discourse.

"Who am I?--that will you know shortly. A merry chase you gave me this
afternoon, and even baffled me for a time, but surely I have not
enjoyed an hour so much for many a day. You are unique, therefore not
to be run to earth by a _common_ black dog, otherwise I could have
secured you earlier in the day and by now------"

The man's lips, of an almost negroid fullness, curved in a smile, the
abomination of which sent a little shudder from Jill's high held head
to her steady little feet.

"But I _have_ you now, beautiful maiden, and if you will not bend to my
will, I will break you to it, even if I spoil your satin skin and the
soles of your small feet by the lash of the whip!"

"So!" said Jill after an interval in which the atmosphere, charged with
the electricity of anger, lust, scorn, and all the kindred sisters of
evilness, resembled what might be the result of a cross between a
spitting cat and a wireless installation. "So! Am I to understand
that you have vulgarly kidnapped me--and are holding me _not_ for
ransom, but for your evil pleasures and those of your friends?"

"Quite so, Mademoiselle! Your words are as clear as the stream running
through a certain oasis which long I coveted, but which fell to my
greatest enemy because