Leah winced at this rude blast of speech, which blew to shreds the verbal draperies with which she was trying to clothe naked and unpleasant facts. "I object to the word kidnap. Lord James went with you of his own accord."
"You kin lay to that, ma'am, an' mighty spry wos he in lightin' out of these gilded halls int' the free an' wild. Kidnappin' it ain't, if y' come t' th' bone, so I climb down slick. Oh, there ain't no meanness 'bout me, ma'am. Prove me wrong, an' I go pious right along."
"As you are apparently pious now, Captain Strange, there may be a chance of our arriving at an understanding."
He nodded. "If as how you'll talk down t' th' bed-rock level of what we've bin doin', ma'am."
Leah winced again, not liking to run with this ruffian in iniquitous harness. "You want a thousand pounds?"
"Well," drawled the captain, "y' might say fairer than thet."
"Which means that you intend to ask for what you won't get."
"Huh! Guess thet'll be as right as pie, when I open out."
"You can open out now," said Lady Jim, coolly.
Her antagonist admired this bluffing to the extent of slapping his thigh, and chuckling like a blackbird over a worm. "You're a dandy one t' deal with, fur sure, an' a woman at that. My word"--this was Australian--"if my missus hed bin your sort, ma'am, I'd ha' bin walkin' a liner as a golden-barred skipper. You kin freeze on t' thet, straight."