"A moment, madame, I beg," he said, his voice harsh with anger. "Since it has pleased you to withdraw your trust in me, I see not that I am any longer bound to respect your confidence. 'Tis but an hour since I parted from Sir Rupert. He can yet be overtaken."
Barbara raised a terrified face to his.
"Oh, no! You could not do that," she said.
"And wherefore not?"
"Oh, because—because——" she faltered.
"Well, madame, your reason?" he demanded again harshly.
Barbara flung up her head defiantly, and snatching her rapier from the table raised the point to his breast.
"Because, sir, by your own showing," she replied, facing him boldly, "your life is now mine, to do with as I will. Make one motion towards my brother's undoing, and I swear by Heaven I will run you through as blithely as ever I ran needle into cloth."
For a space they stood thus, she with face alight with excitement, he staring down with astonished admiration into her blazing eyes.
Then he laughed quietly.