“Yes: then let me go,” she replied.
“No; I was sent to take you, and I have found you.”
“But you do not mean to take me back to Murad?” she cried, angrily.
He laughed again.
“It is for you to decide,” he continued, in a low voice. “I, Hamet, have loved you long now—ever since Murad grew tired of you and cast you off. You know it.”
“Yes,” she said, sullenly, “I know it. You have told me before; and if I had told the Sultan he would have had you slain.”
“Both of us,” said the tall Malay, coolly. “But now we are away from him and free. Will you listen to me?”
“I must,” she said, scornfully. “I cannot help it.”
“Yes; you could help it,” he said; “but you will not. I am obliged to take this opportunity, and I do, for I could not bear to see you hurt.”
“And yet you came to seek me?”