He said this with an insinuating air for which Kathleen loathed him.
“The only remaining obstacle is yourself. But you, perhaps, will no longer refuse the hand which I so considerately offer you in marriage.”
“Captain Melun,” said Kathleen, coldly, “you are at liberty to discuss the business side of this matter as much as you please. But I decline altogether to allow you to insult me. After all, it is unnecessary, for I have nothing to say on the matter, and must refer you to my father.”
“I had hoped,” said Melun, “that I might be able to gladden his heart with the news of your consent.”
Kathleen turned her back on him, and Melun swore at her without disguise. But she paid no heed.
Presently he walked round the room so that he could come face to face with her.
“It is early,” he said, “but early hours will do you good. If you will be so kind as to accompany me I will show you to your room.”
He led the way up three flights of stairs till they came to a small landing. Out of this there opened only one door, and through this Melun passed.
Kathleen now found herself in a large, square room, simply and yet fairly well furnished, partly as a bedroom and partly as a sitting-room.
“It is here,” said Melun, “that I am unfortunately compelled to ask you to await your father's decision. However, I release you unconditionally from your promise neither to scream nor to attempt escape.
“You are at perfect liberty to scream to your heart's content. There is no one here who will mind in the least. You are also at perfect liberty to make what efforts at escape you choose. I fear that you will only find them futile.”
He went out quickly and closed the door after him. Kathleen, listening in the badly-lighted room, could hear a key grate in the lock and bolts shot in both at the top and the bottom of the door.
Quickly and methodically she made an examination of her prison. She looked into the cupboards and into the drawers and the massive bureau. But there was nothing about the room of the remotest interest to her which offered the faintest suggestion, sinister or otherwise.
It was, indeed, only when she looked out of the windows, of which there were three, that she discovered to the full how utterly helpless was her position.