‘Only a coward would strike a woman. I will not give you the bundle. It is not yours. As you said, this man Jasper is naught to you, nor you to him.’
‘I will have it,’ he said with a curse, and stooped from the saddle to wrench it from her hands. Barbara was too quick for him; she stepped back into the doorway and slammed the door upon him, and bolted it.
He uttered an ugly oath, then turned and rode through the courtyard. ‘After all,’ he said, ‘what does it matter? We were fools not to be rid of it before.’
As he passed out of the gatehouse, he saw Eve in the moonlight, approaching timidly.
‘You must give me back my ring!’ she pleaded; ‘you have no right to keep it.’
‘Must I, Beauty? Where is the compulsion?’
‘Indeed, indeed you must.’
‘Then I will—but not now; at some day in the future, when we meet again.’
‘O give it me now! It belonged to my mother, and she is dead.’
‘Come! What will you give me for it? Another kiss?’