With a desperate effort she glided from his arms, and the next moment,—her hair unloosed on her bosom bared in the struggle,—confronted him with the poniard gleaming over her head.
"Hoary villain!" she cried, dilating in every inch of her stature, until she seemed to rival his almost giant height,—"lay but a finger on me and you shall pay for the outrage with your life!"
Her head thrown back, her bared bosom swelling madly in the light, her dark hair resting in one rich, wavy mass upon her neck and shoulders,—it was a noble picture. And her eyes,—you should have seen the flashing of her eyes! As for the statesman, with one foot upon the threshold, he turned his face over his shoulder, thus exhibiting his massive features in profile, and gazed upon her with a look which was something between the sublime and the ridiculous; a strange mixture of passion, wonder and chagrin.
"Esther,——"
"No doubt you can induce husbands to sell their wives to you;" the eyes still flashed, and the poniard glittered overhead; "no doubt, gray-haired fathers have sold their daughters to your embrace; nay, even brothers, for a place, may have given their sisters to your lust; but know," again that bitter word so bitterly said,—'hoary villain!'—"know, hoary villain! that Esther Royalton will not sell herself to you, even to purchase her brother's safety, his life, much less her own! For know, that while there is a taint upon my blood, that there is blood in my veins which never knew dishonor, the blood of —— ——, whose grandchild stands before you!"
As she named that name, Godlike repeated it from pure astonishment.
"You a statesman! you a leader of the American people! Faugh! (Back! Lay not a finger upon me as you value your life!) May God help the Republic whose leaders play the farce of solemn statesmanship by daylight, and at night seek their inspiration in the orgies of the brothel!"
"But, Esther, you mistake me; do not raise your voice,——" his face flushed, his eyes bloodshot, he advanced toward her.
At the same instant she caught the purpose of his eye, and with a blush of mingled shame and anger, for the first time became aware that her bosom was bared to the light.
She retreated,—Godlike advanced,—she, brandishing the dagger,—he, with his hands extended, his face mad with baffled passion. Thus retreating, step by step before him, she reached the table, and cast a lightning glance toward the lamp.