“No one dare tear me away!” retorted the girl. “I shall stay with her, and no one shall hurt her while I’m alive.”
They spoke so quickly now that Helen could only gather a few words here and there; but she could make out how fiercely the girl was threatening to resist any attempt to separate them, even going so far as to present the point of her weapon at Murad, who shrank angrily away, and stood at last biting his lips.
“Will you go?” he cried at last, in a furious tone; and as he spoke he gazed from the girl to Helen and back again.
“No!” she cried fiercely. “I will stay with her. She shall not be your wife!”
Volume Three—Chapter Four.
More Treachery.
Murad took a step towards the girl, and whispered something which Helen could not catch.
Then, turning sharply round, he dashed the curtain aside, swung open the door, and passing through, they heard the heavy bang as the curtain waved to and fro, when Helen’s defender sank trembling to her knees, her eyes closed, and the little weapon with which, but a minute before, she was ready to menace the Rajah’s life, fell with a musical tinkle upon the floor.