“Oh, do let’s be friends!” he said. “You and your friends have really given me a lot of trouble. But do I bear you any malice? Not I! If you hadn’t taken care of those misguided girls after they ran away from Hedgeville, none of this would have come about.”
“I suppose you think you have some excuse for acting in this fashion?”
“I certainly have, Miss Mercer. The very best. After all, why shouldn’t I tell you! It’s too late for you to do me any harm now–I have won the game.”
“But there will be a return match. Don’t forget that! My father is as rich as you are, Mr. Holmes, and when he hears of the way I have been treated, he will spend his last cent, if necessary, to get his revenge on you.”
“Dear me, I hope he won’t do anything so foolish, Miss Mercer! It would be a dreadful waste of money–and he wouldn’t get it, in any case. However, I don’t want you to be needlessly worried. Zara will soon be safe with her father. She won’t have to stay very long with the estimable Farmer Weeks. You know, I really don’t blame her for disliking him.”
Zara gave a little cry of joy.
“Will I see my father? Is he well?” she cried.
“Quite well–but very obstinate,” said Holmes. “That’s your fault, too, Miss Mercer. I’m sorry to say that lately he has seemed to be inclined to listen to your cousin, Mr. Jamieson. He is willing, you see, to deal with whoever happens to be in charge of his daughter. He knows our friend Silas very well–too well, I think. And so, when he knows that Zara is being looked after by him, I think he will be glad to meet my terms, and so secure his freedom.”
“You brute!” said Eleanor, hotly. “What are your terms?”
“Ah, that would be telling! You will have to wait to discover that. You see, Silas Weeks wasn’t quite as stupid as the rest of the people at Hedgeville, and when he couldn’t find out what old Slavin was doing there, he came to me–because he thought I probably could.”