Of what followed, in large part, I was not myself a witness. I must beg your indulgence, therefore, for this my story, for I can but tell it as the tale was told to me; and hope to spare my blushes where the matter turns upon myself, and those I love..... For my trust in Danik was amply repaid. While I drew off pursuit in manner like a mother-bird with broken wing, feigning despair and weakness I did not feel, my comrade in arms had made his way down to the anchorage and there bided his time until the hue and cry had all been raised and the landing-place was all but stripped of men, with the precious cargo still held safe aboard the ship. Then, leaving off his borrowed clothing and bearing only that sword which he had carried with him all this time, he slipped into the water and swam out boldly to the vessel as she lay at anchor, raising himself eel-like through the great stern window and into that same cabin where I had once been a guest. And there, locked away among my garments and my boxes, he found my son — indignant, afraid, but in no way a disgrace to his name.

I had not thought to give Danik any token by which it might be known that he came from me; but I had spoken often enough of Jehan and of our parting that he had no ado in convincing the boy of phrases we two alone could have recalled. If truth be told, I fear my son would have followed him in any case. He was enchanted with this merry stranger almost from the moment that they met — and even now can be brought to talk of little else.

It was as well; for it took some courage to put himself entirely in Danik's hands and let himself down into the water with only Danik's arm for support, and so be towed out around the point, without the least cry or sound. But they came safe to land at last, and there Danik left him hid, brave child that he was, while he himself must needs find some signal to bring in the Avalanche at a spot where none could reach them from the fort until it was too late.

And so they were brought safely off, as Jehan tells it, and he had the run of the ship and made many friends, while the Avalanche made sail with all speed she could manage back to Martinique. Not to St-Pierre, for we did not know how many accomplices in the city might not already be in the pay of this Edmond. It is all too simple for a child alone in a household there to be once again 'lost'.

I had bade Danik take him, if he could, to the household of his grandfather at Mireille above Sainte-Marie, by which formidable gentleman he could be no better defended anywhere else on the Windward Isles. No strangers could enter on our land that Thierry did not know it, and none lived on Mireille who did not know and love the child since his birth. He could be no safer were he guarded day and night in Fort St-Louis.

Of the war-councils that ensued upon their arrival at Mireille, I know little, save that it seems Danik won my father's trust in no short order, and my mother's liking besides — a feat, if it be possible, of even more acclaim, for my mother has small patience for strangers, and for foreigners less.

Words cannot describe the fury with which my father learned of the outrage planned upon his daughter and on her son; yet for once, as it fell out, Thierry de Roncourt proved the wiser head in such an enterprise, for he counselled against applying publicly to the Governor for troops to raze that whole kidnapper's nest to the ground, as Danik had been hot to do. Such an expedition might wipe out one humiliation — but unless the name of La Tour was to become the talk of the islands, better by far to obtain my freedom as quickly and quietly as might be, and take such measures afterwards as might be more discreetly achieved.

With this Danik was brought to concur, though instinct cried out against so tame an outcome; but he felt himself in some measure under an obligation to ensure my safety, having been engaged to accompany me with that very object, and having, as he saw it, failed. Despite my assurances that I should not be harmed, he condemned himself in thought for leaving me to take that risk while he sailed free. Having pledged to return and secure my liberty, he grudged all obstacles that promised delay, from temptations of hospitality to Jehan's own determination to come. The boy had conceived an adoration of the Count and a fierce desire to be part of the adventure that danced before his eyes.

But while Danik has a great love of children, as they for him, and had taken the fatherless boy almost at once under his wing, neither he nor my parents would countenance for one moment taking a seven-year-old into battle. It would be purest folly.

And so Jehan sulked, my mother fussed and my father fumed, while Danik of Ruritania was straining at the leash, with he and loyal Osman eager to set sail to retrieve their employer — namely myself — from durance vile. Though they could not have known it, Danik's instincts had not played him false. When the Avalanche again sighted the coasts of that ill-omened isle, it was not one moment too soon.

For that, I fear, my own unruly tongue must bear the blame, though Danilo will not have it so. I had resolved to hold myself meek and biddable, as a lady should; to arouse no suspicion and make no resistance, until the time should come. But for too long now I have done as I pleased and spoken as I thought, and taken no heed to placate the pompous or submit myself to rule... and I had not reckoned on how hard it would be to play the helpless captive's rôle.

To explain, then, how it came to pass that when Danik returned I was not mewed safely in dull captivity as I had thought to be, but trapped in panic beyond any I had known, I must take up my own tale once more, from that day when Edmond and I first came face to face.

I had the disadvantage of it, being, in addition to my island dirt, somewhat dishevelled by the rough nature of my capture. After days spent in futile chase, I do not doubt my pursuers had been somewhat less gentle with me than their leader had at first commanded; so much, at least, he gave me urbanely to understand, while scanning me with narrowed eyes as if to ascertain what manner of lady might emerge, chrysalis-like, from this shabby cocoon.

As for myself, I stared quite as much, laying eyes for the first time upon my adversary. Above all, I think, I had feared to recognise in him some trace of the boy I had known. I did not wish to believe that the true Edmond de la Tour would resort to any such stratagem to claim his birth-right. He had always been the bolder of the two, where Emile was sweet-tempered and wise, a steadying hand on his brother's rash starts; but, at least as the child I had been had understood it, there had not been one selfish bone in his body. If some mocking fate had in truth saved his life only to carry him far from family and home, I could not believe he had become such a man as this.

But from that at least I was spared. From the moment I was brought into his presence, I knew my enemy for the imposter he was.

Edmond and Emile were fraternal twins, as we say it; brothers of one birth, but no more. Of the two, Edmond had ever been the taller, even as his hair was nearer to black than Emile's warmer brown. In manhood, Emile had overtopped me by an eye's-breadth or more, though I am a tall woman. This man, strong and broad of shoulder though he might be, lacked a centimetre at least of my own height, and his hair was burnished brown. And there was not one trace in his lineaments of my husband's features. He was no more Emile's twin than he was my sister.

He must have seen my face soften with the relief of it, for he smiled. "You see, I am not such an ogre after all...."

I gave him a speaking look. "No ogre, monsieur, to be sure — and no beau-frère of mine, that is plain to see! If you thought to find me apt to your purpose, 'Brother Edmond', then you mistook your aim. I am not so easily bullied or bought —"

Too late, I bit my lip in consternation, watching his eyes change in swift appraisal. He had underestimated my mettle; he would not do so again. This man was no fool, and I had shown him more than I intended.

"Very well," he said softly. He nodded to his two bully-boys holding my arms, and they released me and withdrew. The door closed behind them with a very definite sound. I was alone with him in his office, a cramped chamber in the fort's outer walls. I was not sure this development was to my liking.

I massaged my wrists, pointedly, watching him smile, and raised my chin. "Well, monsieur?"

"Oh, let us not pretend to one another, Ernestine." The clumsy name on his caressing lips made me shudder. "You are a very wealthy woman. I am a man in need of funds. I had hoped we might come to some amicable agreement...."

I regret to confess that I employed the retort of Cambronne.

"A lady of refinement, I perceive!" He had cultivated a fine ironical air. "I can see that we shall deal excellently together, my dear. For why, I ask myself, should I set my sights on but the half of dear Emile's possessions which he derived from his father? Why not claim his future prospects too, when they fall in so delectable a form? Why not join my hand to the heiress of Mireille?"

Mireille..... Until that moment I do not think I had truly known what it was to wish to claw out the eyes of another being. Mireille was mine. It was no part of the de la Tour inheritance. Edmond himself, had he lived, would have had no shred of claim on it. It was my childhood home, my father's pride — and on Thierry de Roncourt's death, the man to whom I was wed would in law hold it all.

Emile and I had been of one heart. What was his was mine — and Mireille had been the setting for our golden years. But this man would rape it for what little it was worth, strip the heart from the land, and sell it away from my children. Emile's inheritance I held for Jehan. Mireille was mine.

I do not know what incoherent words escaped me, but their general tenor can scarcely have been to be mistaken. He shrugged it off.

"Of course, my dear, I would not expect an answer quite at once. In the coming weeks we shall have time enough and to spare in which to further our acquaintance... and I am persuaded that the merits of the arguments in my favour will present themselves quite forcefully to your mind." His smile was quite charming. "Especially in the presence of your son."

"That you shall not have!" I could contain myself no longer. "Look to your shameful hostage, monsieur, and you shall find him flown! Did you dream any mother would not trade her liberty to keep her child from such as you? You hold me alone — and you had best gloat on that while you may, for you will find I have friends even in such a place as this!"

I cannot tell how much of that last he heard, for he had gone very pale, staring down at the deserted anchorage with the face of one who perceives, too late, his mistake. "Femme de diable..."

In the next minute he had raised his voice in a volley of orders that brought men running from all quarters and roused the fort like a stick plunged into an ants'-nest. For my own part, it seemed, I was to be kept secure in an upper room under lock and key, and thither I was rapidly conducted with the minimum of courtesy, and left alone.

And there I was to remain for the next several days, with only a glimpse of the blue sea through the window to enliven my dull captivity. At long intervals a distant sail might be seen, and I would picture to myself my Jeannot, borne safely away now to Martinique, on the decks of the little Avalanche...

I was not ill-treated by any means. The room had been prepared for my coming, and was clean and well-kept; and for the use of soap and water, and of my own gowns and linen from the ship, I was grateful above all things. Danik would scarce have recognised that wild vagabond of his time on the island in the decorous prisoner who now sat by the window, hands folded, or made meek conversation with her captor.

For I did my best to curb my tongue at last, and temporise in lieu of saying nay, and give him to understand that I might see a way to come to some arrangement with regards to Emile's property that should act to our mutual benefit. He knew me in the character of a merchant queen — why, then, let him believe me ready to bargain for profit.

I fear the essay was but a short-lived one. They became stormy interviews indeed, for with my son out of danger, he had little hold over me save threats to my person and to my good name, and to neither of these was I disposed to submit in silence. He held over me the spectre of forced marriage, or of worse; I refused all the more absolutely to consider any of his demands.

At length, at the end of one weary afternoon, when the air was hot and stale enough to choke a man who breathed too deep, and tempers were as frayed as the sunlight, I threw caution to the wind. I swore on my husband's name that I would never wed Edmond; that he would have none of my lands, and nothing of Emile's, and that sooner than see him lay claim to the name of La Tour, I would drag my own through the dust; and that if he took me by force, he could never set foot in St-Pierre to claim the inheritance he craved, for I would expose him to the whole of Martinique society for the impostor he was so soon as we should reach dry land, were it to mean my own ruin and my utter disgrace.

A queer little silence fell between us as my outburst died away, and we stared at one another. "I believe you mean that," he said slowly at last.

"Why, monsieur —" bravado still carried me on — "I believe I do!"

"What a great pity." And it was the true regret in his eyes then that touched my blood for the first time with ice. "For you know far too much, dear Ernestine, and your silence is worth more to me than Mireille."

There was no compassion in his gaze; only the disappointment of the gourmand who finds he must toss aside the dainty he has so long coveted before he has had the chance to savour its taste. Like a foolish gambler, I had destroyed my own last chance at bluff. I had made myself more of a threat to him alive than a loss if I were dead, and I was about to reap the price.

I must have gone ashen-white, for there was cruelty in his smile.

"With you at my side I could have had it all — but if, as it seems, no threat will leash your tongue, then with your demise all that you own will pass to your son." One hand glided along my arm, in the mockery of a caress. "And do you not think that kind Uncle Edmond might prove a suitable guardian to dispose of that fortune as he thought best... until, of course, the young man should reach his majority. If that happy event should ever occur...."

His hand clamped suddenly on my forearm. But it was too late.

Perhaps he had not thought me bold enough. Perhaps he had not reckoned on the strength of desperation. Perhaps he had been made over-sure by the strength of the walls, and the blank sea that surrounded us. Perhaps he had simply wished for no witnesses of his planned sport... but he had set no guard within the chamber when we had speech together, and sent away the sentry who always stood without, and now as we struggled together hand to hand it was my bare strength against his, and it was my strength that prevailed.

Only for the first few seconds of surprise; but it was enough. I had drawn the pistol from his belt, pinned him against the wall, and pressed the muzzle to his throat. It was loaded. I could tell by the waxen hue of his face as the hammer clicked.

We stared at each other, breathing hard. I cannot say what I saw in his eyes. I believe that death was mirrored in mine.

"You won't be able to do it, you know." His tongue flickered nervously to touch his upper lip; but his voice was commendably steady. He managed a slight smile. "You won't be able to pull the trigger. You can't kill a man in cold blood. If you haven't done it yet, you'll never do it now...."

A spasm passed across his face as my hand clenched around the weapon. For a moment I saw myself fire the shot. Saw the blood. Saw the death at my feet. The safety of all that I loved. Felt the strain of the trigger as my finger tensed.

Saw the life pulsing at his temples beneath the skin, the living, thinking mind behind the eyes that could not hide their fear — and found that, to my fury, he was right. I could not — could not, even if I willed it, even if survival demanded it — kill in cold blood. I told myself that was the difference between us. My heart whispered that I was afraid.

"And now that we've both had that point proved to our satisfaction, what do you plan to do next?" Edmond's voice had gained in confidence. "I take it you had not planned for us to stand here like this indefinitely?"

He reached up as if to brush the beads of sweat free from his jaw, only to desist as I pressed the muzzle harder against his throat in warning. A pained look crossed his features. "Come now, my dear, we both know there's very little use in a threat that can't be carried out —"

"In that case, monsieur, you might be well-advised not to rile me over-much. I do not know how much it might take to heat my blood to the point of murder. I am certain you would not care to find out."

For the moment, I could not see a future beyond the gates of the fort. I had to get out. Out onto the island, to survive somehow till Danik should come....

"Move!" I told my prisoner. "To the door — so — turn round— Now down the passage. Slowly, monsieur. We would not wish for accidents...."

I walked behind him, close enough to touch. The gun in my hand was pressed hard against the back of his neck, its grip sweat-slick against my fingers. How far could we get unquestioned? What value did these men place on their leader's life?

"You realise this is madness, of course." His words echoed all too aptly with my own thoughts. "The moment you fire that shot you've lost all bargaining power — you don't want me with you, and yet you dare not let me go. What are you planning — to take us down to the main gate and have me order my men to let us both out onto the island? And then how would we sleep, do you think? How would we wash — how would we eat? Do you really think one woman can hold an unwilling hostage under guard in the most intimate of conditions day and night, with no more than a single pistol-shot at her disposal?"

"Keep walking — and keep quiet!" I thrust him forward, down the stairs, hard enough to keep him off-balance so that he stumbled and almost fell as we reached the foot. Further down the passage there came a pale flash of movement, as a face turned towards us at the sound.

The guard, then, outside his office. Eh bien, sooner or later the gauntlet must be run... and here it began. If we could pass this man, we could pass others. Only I would to God that my hand were not trembling so much....