"Can you manage her alone?" he asked me curtly.
My temper was thoroughly aroused by the false position in which I had been placed, and I vented it upon him.
"I'll manage her or go overboard with her," I barked.
He smiled.
"The right spirit, lad! Tut, tut, mistress," as she wrenched a hand free and dug at my eyes. "You concern yourself for nothing. We have but played at a game. Observe your father's attitude."
"The greater his shame!" she hissed. "That he should have suffered you to take me alive!"
"We are friends," urged my relative, lowering his voice. "'Tis but a pretense we make——"
"Friends!"
Her white teeth clicked in an effort to bite my ear.
"Ah, you are friends to the Powers of Evil."