Dorothy clung to the pommel. "I'll not,--I'll not!" she declared. "You shall not dare do so wicked a thing, and Master Weeks will never dare listen to you." "We'll see to that," he laughed, and lifted her from the saddle. Then, as she reached the ground, he kissed her, as he had that day in the wood. "Be good to me, and true to yourself, my sweet little rebel," he whispered, "and fight no longer with truth and your own heart. Own that you love me, and know that I love you,--aye, better than my life." "I care naught for your love," cried Dorothy, struggling to free herself from his arms. "And I tell you that I hate you!" "Aye," and he laughed again, "so your lips say. But I know what your heart says, for your eyes told me that, long ago. And I shall listen to your heart and eyes, and pay no heed to your sweet little rebellious mouth." They were now standing on the upper step of the small porch, and in the open doorway was the minister, Master Weeks, a candle in his hand, and held above his head as he peered out into the darkness with wonder filling his blinking eyes. "Good Master Weeks, here is a little wedding party. And despite the unseemly hour, you must out with your book, and your clerk, as witness, for binding the bargain past all breaking." With this, the young officer, carrying Dorothy in before him, entered the house and closed the door, against which he placed his broad back, his gleaming teeth and laughing eyes alight like a roguish boy's as he smiled down upon the bewildered little divine. "You will do no such thing, Master Weeks," Dorothy protested, her eyes flashing with anger. "I am here against my will, and forbid you to listen to his madness." "Aye," the young man said, looking into her glowing face, "mad I am, and with a disease that naught will cure but to know that you are my wife." "Why, Cornet Southorn," exclaimed Master Weeks, "whatever can you be thinking on? Surely this lady is Mistress Dorothy, the daughter of Master Joseph Devereux." And he looked closely into her face. "Yes, so I am," she cried, moving nearer to him. "You know my father, and you'll surely not hearken to this young Britisher?" "Aye, but he will, and that speedily," the young man asserted. The smile was now gone from his face, and his hand stole toward his pistol. "Master Weeks," he said sternly, "it will go hard with you if within ten minutes you do not make this lady my wife." And he looked at his watch. The frightened little man said nothing more, but hurriedly summoned his housekeeper and her son, who was also his clerk. A few minutes later, and Dorothy, held so firmly--albeit gently--by Kyrle Southorn that she could not move from his side, heard the words that made her his wife. When it was over, she was strangely silent, scarcely seeming to comprehend what had taken place.