“Because to allow you to leave here would upset my plans.”
“Your plans?”
“Yes; the plans I have laid for your future.”
“Please explain,” Ross said, a sneer curling his lip.
“I wish I might explain to you—tell you everything,” Bradford answered very earnestly. “But I don’t dare to do so at present. I fear it might prove disastrous. Be patient just a little longer. You shall know all ere long. Then you’ll bless me for having kept you here.”
“Never!” Douglas cried angrily. “I’m no child—and I’ll not stay.”
“You mean to try to escape again?”
“Yes.”
For a half minute Bradford dropped his head in thought. Evidently he was greatly moved. At last he said sadly but decidedly—his husky voice hardly audible: