“You have made me reckless with your persecutions, and I scarcely care,” she breathed, almost defiantly.
He shut his lips tightly over a stifled oath and stood with his arms folded on his breast, regarding her with a baffled air.
Seeing that he did not speak, she looked up and said, angrily:
“Why have you come here to persecute me? You need not have feared me.”
“Because betrayal would have been as bad for you as for me,” he sneered, and Violet answered, dauntlessly:
“Yes, that is the only thing that could have sealed my lips.”
“Darling, how cruel you are! Can no memory of the past soften your heart?”
“Do not speak words of love to me, sir. I loathe, abhor, detest you, and I would die before I would become your wife.”
“Violet, I love you as madly as you hate me, and I have sworn to possess you. Will you not listen to me? I am very rich, and you shall be housed like a queen if you will marry me. See what splendid jewels I have brought you!” and he held out to her a case of diamonds, sparkling on white velvet beds, the most exquisite set that could be imagined.
She pushed the case away so angrily that it fell from his hands to the floor and lay all in a heap of cold white fire upon the rich velvet carpet.