"He's been yelling that all the time," was the reply, with an oath and a laugh. "I wish you'd lend a hand. We don't want to hurt him."
"I can't come. Drive on there," he told the coachman; and on we went.
As soon as the policeman's face disappeared from the window, the fellow at my side flung me heavily back into the corner of the carriage, and together they fastened a large handkerchief over my mouth, one of them twisting his fingers into it so tightly behind my head that I was powerless to open my lips. And he held me in this fashion for nearly all the rest of the drive.
Further resistance was now out of the question. I had made my effort and it had failed, and all I could do was to keep still and wait with such resignation as I could summon for what was to come to me.
If I escaped with my life, I should have reason to be thankful. I had already had ample proof that the men whom von Felsen employed were quite capable of going to any extreme. My life had been attempted more than once; and at the time of the previous abduction, when I had not been nearly so dangerous to him as now, I had only escaped death by the narrowest of margins.
Yet it was not for myself that I was mainly afraid now. Von Felsen had so planned things that Althea had been persuaded of my arrest; and I could not doubt for an instant that she would at once agree to do anything he demanded. That night she would certainly consent to the marriage; and the thought was like the sear of a hot iron on a nerve.
Compared with the agony of that dread, nothing else seemed to matter. I would cheerfully have given my life to have saved her from such a fate; but even if I lost my life now, I should be powerless to help her.
Maddened by this reflection, I made another and desperate struggle with my captors. Wrenching myself free from the gag which held me like a vice, I fought and kicked and writhed, yelling for help at the top of my lungs all the while in a furious effort to escape.
But it was useless. Both were strong men, and they overpowered me and forced me down, this time on to the floor of the carriage, and held me there until we stopped. One point only did I gain by the effort. One of the handcuffs came unfastened and could not be relocked on my wrist.
But this did not help me much. One of the brutes seized my arms and held them behind my back, and twisted them till I thought the very sinews would break.