"How touching!" murmured Miss Chandler, stifling a yawn.
"I refer," Leonie went on, as though the interruption had not been made, "to Mr. Lynde Pyne."
"I supposed as much. Lynde was always something of a Don Quixote. It is pleasant to hear of his generosity, but really if you don't hurry I shall have to leave you. I should not like, for your own sake, to have my father find you here."
"I have come to tell you, Miss Chandler, that the engagement that exists between you and Lynde Pyne must be broken!"
Miss Chandler shrugged her shapely shoulders carelessly.
"Have you come here to threaten me?" she asked coldly. "If you have you will find that you have attacked the wrong person. I think I have already demonstrated to you the fact that I am not in the least a coward."
She arose as she finished her sentence, and Leonie followed her example.
"Promise me," she said, "and keep your word, that you will break this engagement, and I swear to you, that so far as I am concerned, the secret of your birth and the knowledge of who was the thief in Leonard Chandler's household, shall be eternally preserved. Refuse, and whatever it may cost me, the entire matter shall be made public in time to save Lynde Pyne from the marriage that would not alone wreck his life, but his soul as well."
"I make no compact with you of any kind!" said Evelyn, harshly. "If you make this charge, without bringing ample proof to back up your assertions, I warn you that my father, Leonard Chandler, shall use the force of his entire fortune against you. His anger against you is already at fever heat, and I have but to speak the word that will make him your most deadly foe. As far as my love for Mr. Pyne is concerned, that is none of your business. Whether I love him or not, I intend to marry him, for reasons that do not in the least concern you. Now go, or the servants shall have instructions to put you out!"
There was not the slightest weakness in her demeanor, and Leonie knew it.