"Ah!" said Garstang, as if to himself; "more beautiful than ever, in her anger. How can she wonder that she has made me half mad?" "Will you be good enough to sit down, Mr Garstang?" she said, gazing firmly at him. "May I not rather kneel?" he said, imploringly. "Will you be good enough to understand, Mr Garstang," she continued, with cutting contempt in her tones, "that you are speaking to a woman whose faith in you is completely destroyed, and not to a weak, timid girl." "I can only think one thing," he whispered, earnestly, "that I am in the presence of the woman I worship, one who will forgive me everything, and become my wife." "Your wife, sir? I have come here this morning, repellent as the task is, to tell you what you refuse to see--that your proposals are impossible, and to demand that you at once restore me to the care of my guardian." "To be forced to marry that wretched boy?" he cried, passionately; "never!" "May I ask you not to waste time by acting, Mr Garstang?" she said, with cutting irony. "You call me `My dear child!' You are a man of sufficient common sense to know that I am not the foolish child you wish me to be, and that your words and manner no longer impose upon me." "Ah, so cruel still!" he cried; but she met his eyes with such scathing contempt in her own that his lips tightened, and the anger he felt betrayed itself in the twitching at the corners of his temples. "You have unmasked yourself completely now, sir, and by this time you must understand your position as fully as I do mine. You have been guilty of a disgraceful outrage." "My love--I swear it was my love," he cried. "Of gold?" she said, contemptuously. "Is it possible that a man supposed to be a gentleman can stoop to such pitiful language as this? Let us understand each other at once. Your attempts to replace the fallen mask are pitiful. Come, sir, let us treat this as having to do with your scheme. You wish to marry me?" "Yes; I adore you." She rose, with her brow wrinkling, her eyes half closed, and the look of contempt intensifying. "Perhaps I had better defer what I wished to say till to-morrow, sir?" He turned from her as if her words had lashed him, but he wrenched himself back and forced himself to meet her gaze. "In God's name, no!" he cried, passionately; "say what you have to say at once, and bring this folly to an end." She resumed her seat. "Very well; let us bring this folly to an end. I am ready to treat with you, Mr Garstang." "Hah!" he cried, with a mocking laugh. "An unconditional surrender?" "Yes, sir; an unconditional surrender," she said calmly. "You have been playing like a gamester for the sake of my fortune." "And your beautiful self," he whispered. "For my miserable fortune; and you have won." "Yes," he said, "I have won. I am the conqueror; but Kate, dearest--" She rose slowly from her seat.