“Before you speak, Captain Melun,” she said, “I also have something to say. How long do you intend to keep me here? I ask this, not for my own sake, but for my father's.”
“That,” said Melun, with a malicious grin, “depends entirely on your father.”
“By this time, of course,” Kathleen continued, “a great hue-and-cry will have been raised after me in London. Do you intend to return there to-night? Again I ask this question for my father's sake. He should be informed of my whereabouts at once; for you must remember that he is an old man and will probably take this very much to heart.”
“He will not be informed of this to-night,” said Melun, shortly. “Because,” he continued, with a villainous leer, “I am only cruel to be kind. I want to have all the details of your ransom and our marriage settled as soon as possible. A night of waiting will soften your dear old father's heart, and he will probably listen to reason in the morning.”
Kathleen shuddered and drew a little further away from Melun. “You coward,” she said, and looked at him with infinite contempt.
Again a dangerous light leapt into Melun's eyes.
“Have a care,” he shouted, “what names you call me here. I do not wish to be compelled to make you feel your position. But if necessary I shall——”
Kathleen did not take her scornful eyes from his face, and Melun at last looked shiftily away.
As he apparently did not intend to speak again, Kathleen put to him another question:
“Who is the woman,” she asked, “you employed to get me here?”
“That is no business of yours,” snarled Melun, “though you can, if you wish to speak to or allude to her, call her Mme. Estelle.”
“I merely asked,” said Kathleen, “because I was curious to know how she came to make use of the name of Russia.”
“It was simple, perfectly simple. It was largely a matter of guesswork. It was only natural to suppose that you would be doing what you could to smooth matters over with the Czar.”
Kathleen nodded a little to herself. There were apparently few details of her father's secret with which Melun was not acquainted.
“Now,” said the captain, changing his tone and attempting to be brisk and businesslike, “let us for a moment consider the essential points of the case. Of the ransom, of course, there can be no question. I shall increase the sum because of the obstinate way in which your father has refused my overtures. That, however, will be all the better for us.”