He fumed and fretted, but I was obdurate. On his back I made him lie, and there I kept him. When he became restless, I threatened to leave him. He submitted, muttering, "Absurd--ridiculous!" and, turning away his flushed and vexed face, he would not speak. I knelt down by him, and, smoothing his hair, asked if he did not feel comfortable, and what more he wanted. At first, I got no answer, but I stroked him into good humour, for, all at once, he snatched my hand, and pressing it tenderly to his lips, informed me he was a savage, and I an angel. I laughed, and said: "That explains what Mr. Thornton meant by your queer looks. I have always heard that the eye of a savage has something quite peculiar." "Queer looks!" echoed Cornelius, reddening; "the queerness is in his eyes, Daisy. But let him have his say. I have taken no vow; but I am determined--" "Cornelius, if you will toss in that extraordinary fashion, I must go." He groaned, but became once more quiet. "Since you are so fidgetty," I said, "why did you not come to see me at Thornton House?" "Why, Daisy," he replied, rolling a stray lock of my hair round his finger, "because I am a burglar, and not a swindler. I may rob a man of his jewel, but I will not cheat him out of it." "Abduction and 9th George IV," rushed into my head; but I carelessly said:-- "So I am to be stolen property." He laughed, and did not contradict it. "But how will you manage?" I asked. "It is not settled yet?" he replied evasively; "but you shall know all the next time we meet here." "Then why this meeting of to-day, Cornelius?--why this useless danger?" "Danger!--there is none for me; and if there were, I would meet and brave it willingly for this sight of your face. Now do not look so like a shy fawn, though it becomes you charmingly. It was quite pretty to watch you hidden in the ferns. Every now and then you raised your fair head like a young Nereid, then dipped it again into that green sea, where I now lie flat like a dead fish; and yet, Daisy, how pleasant it is to be here with you!" "How do you know this place?" "I sketched it years ago on one of my visits to your father; little thinking then that the sulky little girl, who would not kiss me, would one day break every tie for my sake."