"You shall!" he declared furiously. "Do you think I will be beaten by a child like you? I tell you, you shall!" But still desperately she struggled against him, repeating voicelessly, "I will not! I will not!" He gripped her fast, holding her face up mercilessly to his own. "You think I won't do it?" he said. "I know you won't!" she gasped back. "You couldn't! No man--no man could!" "I swear to you that I will!" he said. "No!" she breathed. "No! No! No!" She saw the fury on his face suddenly harden and turn cold. Abruptly he set her free. "Very well," he said. "Marry you I will. But first I will show you that I am a man of my word." He swung round upon his heel to leave her. But in that instant the warning voice cried out again in Olga's soul, compelling her to swift action. She sprang after him, caught his arm, clinging to it with all her failing strength. "You will not!" she gasped out in an agony of entreaty. "You could not! You shall not!" He stopped, looking down without pity into her face of supplication. "Then give me that promise!" he said. She shook her head. "No, not that--not that!" "Why not?" he insisted. "Are you hoping to catch your red-haired doctor? You are not likely to secure anyone else, and he will probably prove elusive." She flinched at the gibing words, but still she held him back. "No, no! I don't want to marry anyone. I have always said so." "Have you said so to him?" asked Hunt-Goring. She was silent, but the quick blood ran to her temples betraying her. "I thought not," he said. "So that is the explanation, is it? That is why you will have none of me, eh?" "Oh, how can you be so hateful?" she cried vehemently. He laughed. "You won't let me be anything else, I assure you I would be amiability itself if you would permit. Well now, which is it to be? You say you don't want to marry anyone. That, we have seen, is only a figure of speech. But since the red-haired doctor is not wanting you and I am--" "You are wrong!" she broke in, with sudden heat. Some hidden fire within her had kindled into flame at his words; it burned with a fierce strength. For the first time she challenged him without any sense of fear. He looked at her in unfeigned astonishment. "I beg your pardon?" "You are wrong!" she said again, and it was as if some inner force inspired the words. She spoke without conscious volition of her own. "Max Wyndham has asked me to marry him--and marry him I will!" She never knew with what triumphant finality she spoke, but the effect of her words was instant and terrible. Even as they left her lips, she saw the dark blood rise in a wave to his forehead, swelling the veins there to purple cords. His eyes became suddenly bloodshot and glittered devilishly. His hands clenched, and she almost thought he was going to strike her. With a desperate effort she faced him without a tremor, instinctively aware that courage alone could save her.