"Because I do not wish to hear what you want to say."
"But you don't know what I have to say," he persisted.
"I know all I wish to know. Now let me pass."
She tried to make her way to the door, but he quickly caught her by the arm.
At this she let out a scream, but he only smiled, while Sarah Higgins looked on curiously.
"Screaming will do you no good, Gertrude. This house is quarter of a mile from any other, and the road is but little used."
"You are cruel--let me go!" said she, and burst into tears.
"You shall never leave until you listen to me," he said. And then he tried his best to reason with her for fully an hour, but she would not hearken. At last she grew as pale as a sheet.
"This whole thing is a trick--the letter and all!" she gasped, and fell in a swoon. He caught her and carried her to an upper chamber of the cottage. Here he placed her on a couch, and then went below again, locking the door after him.
"It's a way she has at times," he explained to Sarah Higgins. "She is not always so bad. She will be quite herself in a few days, and then she will remember nothing of this."
"Poor dear!" was the answer. "It's dreadful to be so out of one's mind."
"You must take care that she does not escape."
"I will, sir. But about that money?" And the woman's eyes gleamed greedily.
"There is ten dollars on account." And Homer Bulson handed over the amount.
"Thank you, sir. She shall have the best of care--and she won't get away, never fear."
"I was going to remain over in Lakewood to-night, but I find I must return to New York," went on Bulson. "I'll be back again some time to-morrow or the day after. In the meantime do not let her get out of the room."
"I will do as you say, sir," answered Sarah Higgins, and then Gertrude's cousin took his departure.
It did not take the girl long to come out of her swoon, and she at once ran to the door. Finding it locked she went to the window, determined to leap to the ground, if she could do nothing better. But, alas! Homer Bulson had made his calculations only too well. The window was slatted over on the outside, making the apartment virtually a prison cell.
She saw that the slats had been put on recently, and this made her more sure than ever that the whole thing was a plot. The letter had been a decoy, and had been used solely to get her in his power.