Silas stamped and raged. "You will find the thunder real enough before I have done with you. This Lister man is guilty, and shall hang. You shall become my wife, my——"
"Never! never! never!" and Bella stamped in her turn.
"You will. As you have no name of your own you should be glad to take that of an honest man."
The girl started and stared. "My name is Huxham," she said angrily.
"It is nothing of the sort. When I wished to marry you, Captain Huxham, your supposed father, told me that you were a nameless waif whom he had adopted out of charity."
"It is wholly false."
"It is true! it is true!" Pence leaped the fence before she knew what was his intention, and caught her in his arms, "and you must become my wife."
"You beast! you villain!" cried the girl, struggling. "How dare——"
She got no further. Even while the words were on her lips a pair of very strong hands caught Pence by the shoulders, and wrenching him from the girl flung him over the fence. The next moment Cyril held Bella in his arms.
"Oh, my dear! my dear!" she sobbed, utterly broken down, "how glad I am that you arrived to punish him."