"He is a dangerous man, and you are in his way."
"Am I? What do you mean?"
"Can't you understand, Arnold? He told Mr. Tracey that his cousin and yours, Mrs. Brand, intended to leave him the money. I learned from Mrs. Baldwin, who heard it from the professor himself, that you have got the ten thousand a year. The professor is poor--from what Mrs. Baldwin told me he is wretchedly poor. Do you think such a man will tamely submit to the loss of a fortune? No, Arnold, no. He is dangerous. Take care. If Emily Doon has an eye to marrying the professor, she is not in this house for nothing."
Calvert tried to soothe the excited girl. "My dear, you are unduly suspicious. Mrs. Varney has given us the reason for the maid's being here. Bocaros cannot harm me in any way----"
"Are you so sure?" asked Laura sharply.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"I mean that you will not be open with me. I love you. Have I not proved how I love you. Julia is against our marriage: but in spite of what she says I have remained true to you. Yet you will not trust me?"
"With what? I am quite in the dark."
He may have been. Yet there was a deep colour in his cheeks, and he looked uneasy. Laura saw these symptoms of emotion, and placed her hands on his shoulders. "Arnold," she said earnestly, "if you have any love for me you will speak out. Look at this!" she hastily drew from her pocket the stage dagger. "This is yours?"
"It is," he admitted readily, and with a look of great surprise. "If you remember it was bought by me for the second act of this play. I showed it to you and----"