"Very well, I'll leave her alone a few moments to get used to her position; but no plotting for her escape, remember, for there are bolts and bars on every door and window; and none of the neighbors could hear her scream, if she tried it all day. You know that by your own experience. So you had just as well do me a good turn by persuading her to marry me without more trouble. You didn't find it hard to love me, so why should she?" The look of scornful reproach she gave him might have shamed a fiend, but he only laughed and went out, shutting the door behind him. "Miss Precious, look up, darling--he's gone now; look up, and don't grieve. Maybe something will happen, maybe Miss Ethel will repent and send your father to take you from Lindsey Warwick. Oh, I wish I had a good revolver; I'd shoot him like a dog, and let you go free! My life's going out fast, anyway, and I'd not mind paying off my score against him!" Precious lifted up a pale, haggard face, murmuring: "Oh, no, no, Hetty; you must not die with the sin of murder on your soul. Listen, while I whisper in your ear: I have a splendid little revolver in my pocket. Papa gave it to me after--that night last summer, you know. He taught me to use it, and told me to always carry it when I went out alone, and to defend myself with it, if necessary. So don't worry over me, Hetty; I will kill him if there is no other way of escape!" But she shuddered, and grew so pale that Hetty muttered: "Let me have it, dearie, and I'll do the deed for you quick enough!" "No," Precious answered; and just then the door opened and the old woman came in, leering hideously at the hapless prisoner. Precious rose from her chair, and catching the old woman's arm, suddenly asked imploringly: "Won't you be good enough to open those doors, and let me go home to my mother?" "Couldn't do it for nothing. My son's orders is to keep his pretty bird close!" was the chuckling reply. Hetty half-raised herself in bed, and gazed curiously at the pair. Something in the white, resolute face of Precious prepared her for a startling denouement. She saw the girl's hand slide into the folds of her dress and out again. The next moment Hetty's eyes were dazed by the gleam of a small silver-mounted revolver, whose muzzle pressed the old woman's temple. "Open the doors and let me go free, or I will kill you! Not a word, or I fire!" breathed the desperate girl, low and distinctly. The old woman was a coward at heart. She almost fainted from fear, and, forgetting her son's interests in her own deadly fears, put her shaking hand in her pocket and withdrew the key without one word, as she was bidden. Precious and the eager, watching Hetty began to think that victory would be easy. "Now open the doors, and I will follow you until I reach the street. Do not speak, or I shall certainly shoot you," continued Precious sternly, still covering the bent, cowering form with the lifted weapon.