"I beg your pardon. Jack is not a man very easy to kill, and I don't think Maltravers will get away with him so easily as he thinks."
"God grant it."
"At any rate," continued Alfred, "I will proceed at once to San Francisco and search for him."
"You will?"
"Yes, indeed."
Lena seized him by the hand and looked imploringly in his face.
"Take me with you," she exclaimed. "I shall die if I stay here. This life is intolerable to me."
Alfred looked at his mother, as if he expected some reproach from that proud, ambitious woman.
She was not really bad-hearted, but she was like so many other mothers in the United States who desire their daughters to marry some man from Europe with a title rather than have one of their own race, or at least, one who has nothing but his face and his character to recommend him.
"You are a thankless child, and your conduct is sharper than a serpent's tooth," said Mrs. Vanhoosen.