“Oh! it won’t hurt her, and being unconscious is better than hysterics or shrieks.”
“You will find her a hard one to tame, my son.”
“I think not; I have ever been noted as a woman tamer; but as I intend to reform now, and she gets a large fortune, and we go to Europe, I hope she will be sensible. If not, she seals her own fate, as soon as I get her money into my hands.”
“I am sorry you shot her father, Kenton.”
“Bah! regret nothing, my honored parent. If I allowed myself to regret the past, I should have troops of phantoms haunting me day and night. Hello! Mary is recovering.”
“Fiend! murderer! release me!” groaned the poor girl, almost broken-hearted at the fate of her father.
“No, Cousin Mary, I cannot think of such a thing. Keep quiet, and I will not harm you, but if you cry out, I will gag and bind you.”
“Oh, God, have mercy upon me!” cried Mary.
“Cousin mine, that prayer is more frequent on the lips of men and women than any other, and it is less answered,” sneered Kent King.