For a few moments all were dismayed, but were quickly reassured by Mariette, who declared that the police must sooner or later arrest him.
Then, turning to George, she added,—
“You have spoken of your father’s will. Well, your solicitors may make the offer, but I shall refuse.”
“You will refuse!” cried Liane, joyously.
“Yes,” she answered, smiling in contentment. “I shall refuse because I am already engaged to marry Max, the man whose words have cleared your father, and whose evidence will convict the man who has held you so long beneath the thrall of terror.”
“You are to marry Max!” Liane exclaimed, surprised.
“Yes. We have known each other some years now, and as I have recently won sufficient money which, invested, will bring us in a modest income, we have agreed to marry and relinquish gambling. One of our promises to each other is that after marriage neither of us shall enter the Casino on any pretext whatsoever. I shall certainly keep it, and I feel assured that Max will.”
“I’m sure you have our heartiest congratulations,” Captain Brooker said, smiling. “I’ve known Max a long time, and although once he has been one of us and an outsider, he is, nevertheless, at heart a gentleman.”
Mariette, known as “The Golden Hand,” and believed by habitués of Monte Carlo to be thoroughly unscrupulous, and an adventuress of the very worst type, was now an entirely different person to the woman who flung down her gold so recklessly upon the tables. Her life had not been altogether blameless, nevertheless there was still sufficient generosity, tenderness, and love within her heart to render her a devoted wife with a man who would love and cherish her.
“Make your offer to marry me as soon as you wish,” she laughed. “You know what my reply will be.”