"Oh, my lord, I will! I will! only let go my collar!" gasped the man, shaking or affecting to shake.
"Confess, then, you rascal! What brought you here?"
"Oh, my lord, mercy! mercy! I will confess! I will!"
"Do it, then, you villain!"
"Oh, my lord, I—I come—at—at my lady's invitation, my lord!"
"You came at Lady Vincent's invitation?" cried the viscount, shaking the speaker.
"Y-y-yes, my lord!" stammered the valet.
"You—came—at my invitation?" demanded Lady Vincent haughtily, fixing her eyes of fire on the creatures's dace.
"Yes, my lady, you know I did! It is no use for us to deny it now! Ah, my lady, I alwasy warned you that we should be found out, and now sure enough we are!" replied Frisbie.
Claudia clasped her hands and raised her eyes to Heaven with the look of one who would have called down fire upon the heads of these fiends in human form.