“My guardian!”
“Yes, Miss Seabright, your guardian; who never found you more in need of his guardianship than at present.”
“Sir! why have you followed me here?—where is my servant?”
“Having come upon him, cowering, several yards behind you, I took the liberty of sending him back to the mainland, by the boat in which you came!”
Garnet’s eyes began to blaze and darken with fearful rapidity. Yet repressing the mounting fire of anger, she strove to ask calmly:
“And why did you ‘take the liberty’ of sending my servant away, sir? And why have you further presumed to break upon my privacy?”
“One question at a time, if you please, Miss Seabright. I sent your servant away that I might have the pleasure of a private interview. I break upon your solitude for the furtherance of the same purpose.”
“And your object, sir?”
“To come to a full and final reckoning with you!” he said, his manner suddenly becoming threatening.
Garnet pressed both hands upon her bosom, to restrain its violent throbbings, and answered slowly: