“You'll spy upon a membeh of my family, will you, seh!” he stormed. “Out with you, bag and baggage, befo' I lose my tempeh and forget what is due to this young lady you have insulted, seh, with your infamous proposals! Faveh me instantly, while you have a leg to run with! Go!”
Jastrow disappeared; and when the door closed behind him Virginia faced her irate clan-chief bravely.
“He was a spy, and he would have been a traitor. But I am little better. What will you do to me?”
The Rajah's wrath evaporated quickly, and a shrewd smile, not unkindly, wrinkled the ruddy old face.
“So it was a case of the trappeh trapped, was it, my deah? I'm sorry—right sorry. I might have known how it would be; a youngeh man would have known. But you have done no unpahdonable mischief: Misteh Winton would have found out for himself in a few hours, and we are ready for him now.”
“Oh, dear! Then he will be beaten?”
“Unquestionably. Faveh me by going to bed, my deah. Your roses will suffeh sadly for all this excitement, I feah. Good night.”
XI. THE RIGHT OF WAY
It seemed to Virginia that she had but just fallen asleep when she was rudely awakened by the jar and grind of the Rosemary's wheels on snow-covered rails. Drawing the curtain, she found that a new day was come, gray and misty white in the gusty swirl of a mountain snow-squall.