"I am sorry that you forced me to treat you so roughly," he said mildly. "There is nothing more annoying than to be compelled to use one's strength against a woman. There is so little of manhood in it, and yet one cannot always help it. Now, Master Mauprat, that you have seen there is no possibility of escape, are you ready to stand and deliver?"
There was something almost genial in his manner of saying it, and but for her knowledge that he was an utter scoundrel, Leonie could almost have liked him.
Yet she did not think much of that at the moment. Her mind was centered upon how she was to get away with those papers, a thing that began to appear to the last degree hopeless.
Then suddenly an idea struck her.
She realized how impossible it was for her to cope with him physically, for she would be less than a feather in his hand, and she saw that if she was to save Lynde Pyne she must give up the idea of sparing Evelyn Chandler.
She saw her way if she could but prevent Luis Kingsley from seeing the certificate of her mother's marriage with his uncle.
With a deprecating gesture she turned the handle of the knife toward him, as the vanquished do in battle when acknowledging themselves defeated.
He smiled as he took it, not endeavoring to conceal his surprise.
"You have not offered to compromise with me, Mr. Kingsley," she said coolly, "but I am open to a consideration of that kind if you see fit to make it. No, further than that, I will make the offer, if you are prepared to listen."