To put his desertion down to cowardice was the only construction open.
I held my ground, wondering what strange thing would happen next. The dark man eyed me insolently for a moment, evidently expecting and hoping that I would follow my companion. Then he bent closer to Miss Hatherton.
“Why will you persist in this folly?” he asked. “You are alone in a strange land—in a strange town. I urge you to accept the shelter of my sister’s house. It is but a short distance from here.”
“And I refuse!” the girl cried indignantly. “I wish no further speech with you, Mr. Mackenzie. I am not friendless, as you think. I am going with this gentleman.”
“It’s a devilish bad choice!” the man exclaimed angrily.
“What do you mean by that?” I cried, ruffling up.
“Miss Hatherton, I beg you to listen to me,” he went on, ignoring my demand. “It is for your own good—”
“Not another word, sir,” she interrupted, edging nervously toward me as she spoke.
“You shall hear me!” he insisted; and with that he caught her brutally by one arm.
The girl struggled in his grasp and gazed at me with such mute and earnest pleading, with such fear and distress in her lovely eyes, that I must have been more than human to resist taking her part. I was in a hot rage, as it was, and I did not hesitate an instant. I shot out with my right arm—a straight, hard blow from the shoulder that took the ruffian between the eyes. He reeled and fell like a log.