“Yes; you betrayed them as you would have betrayed me, had their bribe been the larger. Gratitude! gratitude! you dare to speak of that to me, to whom you owe everything! Who were you? Nobody! What were you? Nothing! I found you a poor rustic in the Island of Andros, and trained you up to be my successor—which you would have been, had I not discovered in time your heartless, fickle, scoundrelly nature. Gratitude, forsooth! and you, ingrate, turning to bite the hand that has fed you all these years. You owe me everything, I owe you nothing, save the contempt that an ungrateful hound like you deserves for such treachery as you meditated. You would have sold me, you Judas! you would have betrayed a man who has been a father to you! But I have baffled you! I have tricked you! and you are now reaping the reward of your own vile actions. Go! quit my sight, ungrateful wretch! lest I pass from words to actions, and spurn you from the threshold which your very presence pollutes.” “I will go,” cried the Greek, with venomous spitefulness; “but I will return, with an army at my back, to ruin you and yours. I will wreck your island, I will make of you a slave; and as for your daughter”— “Not a word about that lady,” said Maurice firmly, stepping forward and taking part in the conversation for the first time; “she is to be my wife!” “Your wife!” hissed the Greek furiously. “Never! never! I will drag that fine piece of purity from your arms to the gutter. I will”— “You d—d reptile!” cried the Englishman, white with passion; “say another word, and I’ll break your neck!” Caliphronas, having had some experience of Royland’s strength, judged it wise not to say another word; but, turning on his benefactor, poured out the vials of his wrath on the old man’s head. “So this is why you brought him from England!” he said fiercely; “to marry Helena! You promised that if I fulfilled your desire, and lured him to Melnos, I would be your daughter’s husband”— “If she accepted you, yes—if she refused you, no!” “So you say now. Oh, I have been your tool and slave all along!” “You have. I have met treachery with treachery, and baffled you.” “I have obeyed your wishes,” hissed the Greek venomously; “I have kept your secrets, but I will do so no longer. Whom you are, and what you are, I will tell this man.” “Be silent, wretch!” “I will not be silent; I have been silent too long. You have betrayed me, so now I will betray you. Maurice Roylands, look at this so-called Justinian. Do you know whom he is? An outcast Englishman, a renegade adventurer—your uncle Rudolph!” “My uncle Rudolph!” replied Maurice, aghast. “Yes. It was he who sent me to England for you; it is he who is heir to your fine estate; and you—you are nothing but a pauper!”