“Yes; and then?” he said to himself. “What am I to do if the journey ends in some robbers’ lair? Ought I to wait to find myself facing alone half a dozen jail-birds [[91]]whom I shall have to fight for the girl? Or had I better get to work now?”
A sudden movement of the young girl forced a decision. In an access of despair she tried to spring from the car at the risk of killing herself. The man caught her and held her with a grip of steel.
“No foolishness!” he cried. “If you’ve got to die, you’ll die by my hand and at the appointed hour. Have you forgotten what I told you on the express, before you and William did in the two brothers? So I advise——”
He did not finish. There suddenly appeared a head and bust separating him from the girl. A grinning head and a shoving bust which pressed him into his corner.
“And how are you, old friend?” snarled a voice.
The ruffian was dumfounded. A wrong turn of the wheel must throw all three of them into a ravine.
“Cristi de Cristi!” he stammered. “Who on earth is this blighter? Where did he come from?”
“What?” said Ralph. “You don’t remember me? But since you were speaking of the express, you must remember me—the first gentleman you knocked on the head—the unfortunate chap from whom you collared twenty-three notes and two rings. The lady recognizes me perfectly, don’t you, mademoiselle? You recognize the kind gentleman who carried you away in his arms that night and whom you quitted without a word of thanks.” [[92]]
The girl said nothing; she crouched lower, shrinking away from him. The dumfounded driver babbled on: “Who the devil is the blighter? Where the hell did he come from?”
“From the Villa Faradoni, where I was keeping an eye on you. And now it’s time to stop and let Mademoiselle get down.”