"Why--? Why did you--?" she screamed at him. "You're a blackguard! Your word's not to be trusted! You're a liar!" "Confound it!" he said, and looked about helplessly. "_How_ will my lady get out of this mess?" "You broke your promise--the most sacred bond uniting us. You--you--threw it away on a barmaid--a barmaid, a creature who would hang herself on anybody's neck for a couple of pennies. You're a vulgar profligate! You're not worth a woman's having tried to save you--you don't _want_ to be saved--you _want_ to go to the bad--" "All very good and fine," he said, "and probably very saddening and incontrovertible truths; but will my lady please explain how she expects to get out of here?" "I don't know anything I am more indifferent about," she cried. "I came for you to give me an account of yourself. I am asking you to answer me--immediately--here--now--on the spot." "Certainly, my lady, I will without fail. But first--damn it! hell! Get away from the window!" He cast a sharp, all-embracing glance at the castle. Nothing suspicious to be detected at that moment, at least. Alarmed by his snarling at her in that way, Lilly fled into the interior of the room, which was low, dark, and ill furnished. Here the vile animal smell was still stronger. From where it came was made clear to her the next instant. As she approached the rear wall, something suddenly snapped at her foot, and two little circular torches gleamed up at her wickedly. "Down, Tommy!" called Von Prell, while Lilly recoiled with an exclamation of fright. So that was Tommy, the other member of the triple alliance. Lilly leaned against the arm of the old spindle-legged sofa. Its worn springs squeaked under her pressure and pricked her thumbs, and the thought flashed into her mind: "What am I doing here? What is it all to me?" Von Prell the while stepped from door to door listening. "If that old Leichtweg had happened to be in the next room," he said, "we should be dying a dog's death. But if you go this instant, the front way, into the courtyard, they might suppose you had come to ask something, and perhaps we can patch it up still." All Lilly perceived in his words was a sly attempt at evasion, and a fresh flood of indignation overwhelmed her. "First justify yourself," she cried. "Until you do, I won't go this way, or that way, or the other way." To enforce her resolve she dropped down on the screeching sofa, which was covered with a dirty grey horseblanket folded into several thicknesses for protection against the sharp points of the springs. He was compelled to yield. "Very well, then, look here--a fellow's a human being, isn't he? And if he's given the go-by in that common way--" "Common way?" faltered Lilly. "What was common in my letter? Didn't I tear my heart out and throw it at your feet, and didn't Miss von Schwertfeger--?" She could not continue. Wrath and despair choked her utterance.