"I'm not, for there's a devilish mystery about his coming; I wish she'd heard more."
"But she didn't, dear George; and that he comes at all does not look well for our plot, eh? She may yet get him, not I; and so you will remember, sweet Georgie; if so you don't win the game."
"Kate, you madden me."
"You do seem a little that way; there, go away, you are crushing my flowers. Heaven knows you ought to be satisfied, I have given you enough."
"I shall have you all to myself."
This he said with such fierce emphasis as to cause Vaura to tremble; not so Madame, for she loved this man for his boldness only (a tamer nature would have palled upon her long ere this), but the feline nature in her triumphed at times, and she tortured him.
"But, dear boy," she continued, "you have not carried out your bargain, and so no reward."
"I know I promised to separate them, and so I have, and shall; you don't see all my hand, my queen, there'll be the devil to pay when I do. I got a letter from New York this summer I shall yet turn to our advantage, even if I do stretch a point."
"Why did you not show this letter you speak of to me? Take your head away, you don't care a fig that my flowers will wear a dissipated recumbence; remember the dinner and ball."
"Hang the flowers, the dinner and everything; I want you."