Late that afternoon old Jane came up stairs.
"He is coming. I see the sleigh off in the distance now. He will bring the justice to marry you to him!" she snarled.
Geraldine did not answer; she had already been beaten and kicked that day so that she was barely able to rise from the chair where she was crouching.
The woman continued, threateningly:
"If you do not marry him, he will leave you here for me to kill. Do you know how I shall do it?"
"No."
"I shall turn the dog on you. He has been kept without food two days, to make him savage. He would tear a stranger to pieces. He has never seen you, so when I 'sic' him on you, he will spring at your throat and make mincemeat of you. While you are still warm and bleeding, I shall throw your body into the old well!"
It was horrible to listen to her, but Geraldine only trembled and hid her face. Two weeks of misery had inured her to such brutality.
"I must go now and chain up Towser, so they can get in," added the old wretch, going down, after locking the door as usual, to receive her guests.
They came in, Standish and the justice of the peace he had bribed to accompany him—a villain, if ever a man's face spoke truly, who would stop at nothing if tempted by gold.