"I cannot believe it! I cannot believe it!" moaned Kaituna, hiding her face on Maxwell's breast.--"Mrs. Belswin, my kind good friend----"
"Your friend," scoffed Dombrain, with an ugly glitter in his ferret-like eyes. "Yes, you don't know who your friend is!"
"For God's sake, silence!" shrieked Mrs. Belswin, pale to the lips.
"No, I will not keep silence, you fiend, who have ruined me. I will tell all. Miss Pethram, do you see that wretched woman with the handcuffs on--that guilty wretch who murdered your father, that----"
"I see Mrs. Belswin," cried Kaituna, with sudden fire; "I see the woman who saved me from starvation, and I do not believe this base charge you make."
With noble indignation she walked across to Mrs. Belswin, and threw her arm round the poor woman's neck, while Archie, who respected and liked the companion, mutely approved of the girl's generous action.
"Ah, you put your arm on her neck now," said Dombrain, with a sneer, "but you will take it away when you know----"
"Dombrain!" cried the wretched woman, for the last time, "spare me--spare me!"
"I will spare you as you have spared me."
"Be silent, with your cowardly threats, sir," said Kaituna, looking proudly at him, "and do your worst. Who is Mrs. Belswin?"