“Not so fast, Miss Lawless; you must do your humble servant the honor of conferring your company upon him for a few days. As I have not seen you for so long a time, it would be highly impolite, not to say cruel, to hasten away so soon now.”
“Indeed! Mr. Garnet—indeed!” said Pet, arching her brows. “Your lesson in the library did not cure you, I see. Are you aware there is such a thing as a jail in Judestown, where refractory gentlemen who threaten peaceable citizens are sometimes taken for a change of air? Really, Mr. Garnet, I think a little wholesome correction would not hurt you in the least.”
“No, Miss Lawless, I have not forgotten that scene in the library of your father’s house,” said Garnet, tightening his grasp, till Pet winced with pain. “My hand bears the mark of your sharp teeth yet; and as I am deeply your debtor for that Judas-kiss, I shall pay you in your own coin before either of us are many hours older. Did you think how near retribution was when you gave me that sharp caress, Miss Lawless?”
“‘Sharp caress.’ I suppose that means a bite. If you’re not anxious to test their sharpness again, Mr. Garnet, you’ll let go my arm. Faith! I wish I had made one of my servants horsewhip you from my gates, that day; you would not have dared to come sneaking round like a white-livered coward, that you are—now!”
“Petronilla Lawless, take care!” he hissed, with a fierce gleam of his eye.
“Take care of what? I’m not afraid of you, Rozzel Garnet,” flashed Pet. “Anything in the shape of a man who would go round playing the spy on an unprotected girl, has sunk rather low to be feared by me. Take care, you! I vow if there is such a thing as a cowhide in the country, I shall have you thrashed for this, within an inch of your cowardly life.”
“And get your attached friend, the gipsy beggar, to administer it—eh, Miss Lawless?” he said, with the smile of a fiend. “What a pity he is not here, like a true knight-errant, to rescue his lady-love!”
“It’s well for you he’s not, or he wouldn’t leave a whole bone in your miserable skin. Let me go, I tell you! Your presence is pollution,” said Pet, struggling to get free.
He held her with a grasp of iron, and watched her ineffectual efforts with a grim smile.
“I told you when we would meet again you would plead to me,” he said, with an evil gleam of his snake-like eyes. “That time has come.”