"Softly, softly. There are two to that bargain, my dear Mr. Rolfe. For Miss Una to go back to a state of savagery in Warden Forest is impossible. You, who have seen her in her new surroundings, and the change they have wrought in her, must admit that."
Gideon Rolfe wiped the perspiration from his brow.
"I know that she is changed," he said. "She is like a great lady now. I see her dressed in rich silks and satins, and coming and going in carriages, with servants to wait upon her, and I know that she is changed, and that she has forgotten the friends of her childhood--forgotten those who were father and mother to her----"
"You wrong Miss Una," said Stephen, smoothly. "Not a day passes but she inquires for you and deplores your absence----"
"But," went on Gideon, as if he had not been interrupted, "I have not forgotten her, nor my promise to her mother. In a weak moment, moved by your threats more than your persuasions, I consented to part with her, but I would rather she were dead than that should happen--which you say will happen."
"Pardon me," said Stephen, blandly, and with an evil smile. "I said that Mr. Newcombe had fallen in love with her; I did not say that he would marry her. _I_ would rather she were dead than that should happen," and he turned his face for one moment to the light.
It was pale even to the lips, the eyes gleaming with resolute purpose.
Gideon Rolfe looked at him in silence for a moment.
"I do not understand," he said, in a troubled voice.
"Let me make it clear to you," said Stephen. "Against my will and wish these two have met and become acquainted. Against my will and wish that acquaintance has ripened into"--he drew a long breath as if the word hurt him--"into love, or what they mistake for love. Thus far it has gone, but it must go no further. I am at one with you there. You and I must prevent it. You cannot do it alone, you know. You have no control over Miss Una; you who are not her father and in no way related to her."
"You see," said Stephen, with a haggard smile, "alone you are helpless. Be sure of that. If you move in the matter without me, I will declare the secret of her birth. Stop! be calm! But you and I can put an end to this engagement."