"What business is that of yours, Sydney?"
"You shall not marry him!" Sydney continued, passionately. "You are not fit to marry any man; but I care not whom you wed so that it be not Captain Ernscliffe."
"I shall marry no other," answered Queenie, stung into defiance by Sydney's overbearing look and manner. "I shall marry Captain Ernscliffe as surely as I live, Sydney, and you cannot prevent it."
"Can I not?" hissed Sydney, furiously. "What if I tell him to ask you for the secret of that missing year of your life?"
Queenie looked back at her calmly and quietly.
"You will not dare to do it," she said. "If you did I would tell him that you wanted him for yourself."
"He would not believe you," flashed Sydney.
"You dare not risk it, Sydney," said Queenie, defiantly. "As for me, I have promised to marry Captain Ernscliffe at the same hour that Georgina marries Lord Valentine, and I shall surely keep my word."
She swept from the room without pausing to listen to the reply of her infuriated sister.