Anny began to feel fairly sure of herself. Why should she wait for Nan to defy him, she thought? Here he was, laughing and playing; surely there would be no danger in telling him the truth.
She leaned a little nearer to him and said very softly so that none of the others could hear:
“I would you would go, sir; you have your ring; what else remains?”
The knife paused for a moment in its unending circle round the thin white hand, the dark lids flickered, and the thin twisted smile vanished, but only for a second; then the soft voice said smoothly:
“One thing, Ann, my Ann of the Island, one thing remains that must come with me; that is my wife.”
Anny began to laugh again nervously, but conquering herself she said sharply:
“Pest on ye, sir, will ye never stop teasing a poor girl’s life out? I tell you, I hate you, sir.”
Dick laughed softly, and there was a new note in his voice which no one could mistake, and Anny drew back a little.
“You said so once before, sweet Ann,” he said, “and I did not believe you then, as I do not now.”
Anny felt strangely irritated by his attitude, and bending still closer to him, said in a sharp half-whisper: