“You’d better not,” Fanning Harding’s tone was threatening now.
“Well, what if I do?”
“You won’t, I tell you. I’ll have you locked up and charged with the theft yourself.”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“Oh, yes, I would. You’ve got that ruby and that is pretty good proof that you stole it.”
“It isn’t so and you know it. I have been a weak, silly girl, that’s all, but I see it all now. And just to think if I hadn’t overheard you and my father talking that I might have gone on admiring you.”
“Tell me you won’t go to the Prescotts with the story or I’ll––”
“Help! Help!”
The shrill cry came in Hester’s tones.
Without quite realizing what she was doing, Peggy stooped and picked up a heavy bit of stick that lay in the road beside her. Then she stepped forward around a bend which had hitherto hidden the other two from her sight. As she appeared Fanning had his hand on Hester’s wrist and was wrenching it cruelly.