Page:The little blue devil (IA littlebluedevil00mackiala).pdf/141

“Pardon. I shall———”

“No, you won’t. I am going to ask her to marry me—do you think she’d answer at all with you standing over her? She is afraid of you at any time. Yes, she is. And anyhow, I shall not speak with you there. Good God, man, respect the privacy of my young love!”

He laughed, and Charbonnel looked at him with hate and something very like fear. Tony was not lovable when he was roused.

He went on alone.

When Liane saw him all the colour went from under her brown skin, and her eyes looked as if they were burnt into her face.

She did not speak. He took both her hands, and said very gently:

“Liane dear, will you marry me?”

A strangled cry broke from her. “Ah—h!—What has he been saying to you?” she gasped.

“Ah, don’t, my dear. Won’t you marry me? Don’t think about anything anyone said. . . .”

Her small face was passionately set.

“I shall not,” she said. “It is wicked of you to ask me. I—you must go away from this place for ever. For ever! I———”

“What is it, Liane? What is it, ma petite?—tell me—something’s horribly wrong———”

She looked at him like a desperate thing. “I don’t know—he said terrible things—he told me—oh, go away, Tony, I am so tired—for the love of God, go away, and don’t make me so tired———”

She buried her face in her hands and broke into wild sobs. He put his arm round her quivering shoulders, and she shook it off with a little cry that sounded only half human; it was an angry cry like that of a tiger-cat at bay.