His voice had sunk to a murmur again, and he drew a slow step
nearer to her.
"How wonderful you are, Charmian! I always loved your shoulders
and that round, white throat. Loved? Worshipped them,
worshipped them! And to-night--" He paused, and I felt, rather
than saw, that he was smiling. "And to-night you would have
killed me, Charmian--shot me--like a dog! But I would not have
it different. You have flouted, coquetted, scorned, and mocked
me--for three years, Charmian, and to-night you would have
killed me--and I--would not have it otherwise, for surely you can
see that this of itself must make your final surrender--even
sweeter."
With a gesture utterly at variance with his voice, so sudden,
fierce, and passionate was it, he sprang toward her with
outstretched arms. But, quick as he, she eluded him, and, before
he could reach her, I stepped between them.
"Sir," said I, "a word with you."
"Out of my way, bumpkin!" he retorted, and, brushing one aside,
made after her. I caught him by the skirts of his long, loose
coat, but, with a dexterous twist, he had left it in my grasp.
Yet the check, momentary though it was, enabled her to slip
through the door of that room which had once been Donald's, and,
before he could reach it, I stood upon the threshold. He
regarded me for a moment beneath his hat brim, and seemed
undecided how to act.
"My good fellow," said he at last, "I will buy your cottage of
you--for to-night--name your price."
I shook my head. Hereupon he drew a thick purse from his pocket,
and tossed it, chinking, to my feet.
"There are two hundred guineas, bumpkin, maybe more--pick them
up, and--go," and turning, he flung open the door.
Obediently I stooped, and, taking up the purse, rolled it in the
coat which I still held, and tossed both out of the cottage.
"Sir," said I, "be so very obliging as to follow your property."
"Ah!" he murmured, "very pretty, on my soul!" And, in that same
moment, his knuckles caught me fairly between the eyes, and he
was upon me swift, and fierce, and lithe as a panther.
I remember the glint of his eyes and the flash of his bared
teeth, now to one side of me, now to the other, as we swayed to
and fro, overturning the chairs, and crashing into unseen
obstacles. In that dim and narrow place small chance was there
for feint or parry; it was blind, brutal work, fierce, and grim,
and silent. Once he staggered and fell heavily, carrying the
table crashing with him, and I saw him wipe blood from his face
as he rose; and once I was beaten to my knees, but was up before
he could reach me again, though the fire upon the hearth spun
giddily round and round, and the floor heaved oddly beneath my
feet.