"Forgive me, for I love you wildly, and I knew I could never win you except by force. I have loved you madly for months. I sent you the tenderest love-letters man ever penned, but you did not reply to them. I looked at you often with my heart in my eyes, but you averted your face. Why were you so cold to me?" "I despised you," answered Precious. "Only yesterday I resolved to tell mamma that you were presuming on your position to try to make love to me. I wish now that I had told her. Then she would have had some suspicion of the truth." "She will think now that you have eloped with some low-born lover!" he sneered, rising to his feet, for she had drawn back from him in disdain. "But I will leave you to rest now, my beautiful love, and my mother will come and help you to retire. Fear nothing. You will be kindly treated here, but you will never be restored to your home until you consent to marry me--ay, until the knot is tied. So think well of my proposal, for I will make you a good husband. Good-night," and he bowed and withdrew. If the thought of her captivity had not been so dreadful, Precious could have laughed at the man's presumption. To think that she, the daughter of an illustrious statesman, should have such a lover as this--a drawing-master, the son of a laundress! Well, papa would come to find her very, very soon, and then he would punish the bold villain for his presumption. CHAPTER VI. THE FORTUNE-TELLER. "I miss you my darling, my darling-- The embers burn low on the hearth, And still is the air of the household, And hushed is the voice of mirth. The rain splashes fast on the terrace, The winds past the lattices moan; The midnight chimes out from the minster And I am alone!" Lindsey Warwick had not counted on such determined obstinacy as his lovely young captive displayed. From first to last she refused to taste a morsel of food beneath the roof of her jailer. The keenness of her thirst made her accept water from the woman, but that was all. Neither cajoleries, threats, nor bribes could induce her to taste the food provided for her, though it was of the best, with fruits and wines, and even bon-bons to tempt her girlish appetite. Although she was starving she pushed them aside with disdain, and lay all day on the couch weeping forlornly, and calling by turns on the names of her father, mother, and sister. Poor Precious! she had fully believed that her father would find her in less than twenty-four hours, but the long days wore away, and she gave herself up to despair. Prayers, promises, pleadings, were of no avail with the cruel old woman and her enamored son. But at heart the old woman was uneasy and frightened as the long days waned and the beautiful captive grew paler and weaker day by day.