"I say--Cuss my nose! There never was sich a misfortunate nose on anybody's face--a-squoking out dat way in onseasonable hours!" cried Katie. "How dare you be caught eavesdropping in these rooms, you wretch?" demanded the viscount, giving her another shake. "And why wouldn't I, you grand vilyun? And you her a-plotting of your deblish plots agin my own dear babyship--I mean my ladyship, as is like my own dear baby! And 'wretch' yourself! And how dare you lay your hands on me? on me, as has heern enough this precious night to send you down to the bottom of Bottommy Bay, to work in de mud, wid a chain and a weight to your leg, you rascal! and a man with a whip over your head, you vilyun! 'Stead o' standin' dere sassin' at me, you ought to go down on your bare knees, and beg and pray me to spare you! Dough you needn't, neither, 'cause I wouldn't do it! no! not if you was to wallow under my feet, I wouldn't. 'Cause soon as eber I gets out'n dis room I gwine right straight to de queen and tell her all about it; and ax her if she's de mist'ess of England and lets sich goings on as dese go on in her kingdom. And if I can't get speech of the queen, I going to tell de fust magistet I can find--dere! And you, too, you whited salt-peter! you ought dis minute to be pickin' of oakum in a crash gown and cropped hair! And you shall be, too, afore many days, ef eber I lives to get out'n dis house alive!" shrieked Katie, shaking her fist first at one culprit and then at the other, and glaring inextinguishable hatred and defiance upon both. For righteous wrath had rendered her perfectly insensible to fear. Meanwhile the viscount held her in a death-grip; his face was ghastly pale; his teeth tightly clenched; his eyes starting. "Faustina, she is as ignorant as dirt, but her threats are not vain. If she leaves this room alive all is lost!" he exclaimed in breathless excitement. "She must not leave it alive!" said the fell woman. Katie heard the fatal words, and opened her mouth to scream for help. But the fingers of the viscount tightened around her throat and strangled the scream in its utterance. And he bore her down to the floor and placed his knee on her chest. And there was murder in the glare with which he watched her death-throes. "Faustina!" he whispered hoarsely, "help me! have you nothing to shorten this?" She flew to a cabinet, from which she took a small vial, filled with a colorless liquid, and brought it to him. He disengaged one hand to take it, and then stooped over his victim. And in a few moments Katie ceased to struggle. Then he arose from his knees with a low laugh, whispering. "It is all right." CHAPTER XXI NEWS FOR ISHMAEL.