"Put you down?" repeated he, clasping her the tighter. "Hardly, after all the trouble I have had to get you here. That is too much to ask, dear Brenda."
"Your promise--you promised to treat me well."
"And I have done so. As I told you, I would not harm a hair of your dear head. And I have not done so, and I will not do so. I had to drug your coffee because I knew that by no other means should I be able to get you away. All's fair in love and war, you know. This is both love and war. I told you that in Durban; don't you remember?"
"Where are you taking me?"
"To the Boer lines: We have crossed the river; yes, there is a ford hard by the farmhouse. That, of course, was the reason I took you there. In another hour we shall be safe amongst my own people. Thence you will go to Pretoria, and then--and then, when the war is all over, you will marry me!"
"I will die first," she screamed, trying to struggle.
"You will not be allowed to die. The little revolver looked pretty, ah, so pretty! in your hands, but it was dangerous. I love you too well to lose you like that. And now that I have you wholly in my power, you cannot say that I am behaving badly."
"Oh, put me down, do put me down! Dear Mr. van Zwieten, don't spoil your good action in saving me on the veldt by----"
"Saving you! Saving you!" exclaimed the Dutchman. "How innocent you are, child! Why, you don't think our meeting was accidental, do you? I had you brought there. I knew exactly what would happen, and my calculations were not very far out, were they?"
"You!--you!--oh, how can you tell me such a thing? I don't believe it. It is a lie."