H. B. Marriott Watson

“ Look here, cousin, you ought to visit Pompeii," he concluded with avuncular wisdom.
"Perdita is going with me when I go," I said. "Pray, address your remarks to me, Sir Gilbert Norroy. What, by the way, did you say you were going to do when we 'got out'?" I asked Perdita.
"I did n't say anything," said she.
"Well, tell the kind gentleman now," I enjoined.
"You don't seem to realize," murmured Perdita, "that I am not subject to your orders."
"I always begin as I mean to go on," I told her. "Some people enter into the bonds of matrimony with their eyes wilfully shut. ”

“ What shall I buy you for a wedding-gown?"
"A man does n't buy the wedding-gown," stammered Perdita.
"Oh, does n't he. Well, I will, you see, and that makes the difference between a man and me. You may think me an ogre, Miss Forrest, but—"
"Hark!" said she, "is that Sir Gilbert?"
I called to him and was answered.
"Perdita, you are, like all your sex, a deceitful little cat, full of tricks. You knew it was n't Norroy. Well, of course, I 'll alter all that when we are safely married."
"But you don't know if we shall be," murmured shy Perdita. "You 've never asked me." ”

“ I asked slowly, "is the name of your cousin?"
"Name!" There was a pause. Perdita was trembling all over.
"Is it Perdita?" I whispered in her ear.
"I don't know," he said. "Must have heard it, but I 've never seen my mother's relations—governor quarreled with 'em. She's probably a decent sort, high cheekbones and big features and all that."
"She's not," I cried. "Norroy, you impertinent, blind ass! You 've thrown away all your chances. I can tell you what she's like. She's the most lovely woman that walks this earth. Her eyes—"
"Don't, don't," pleaded Perdita in tears. ”

“ Perdita sobbed. "Poor Hawes is drowned. He must have gone down with the boat."
"No, no," I soothed her. "These old sailors know too much. He is sure to be all right." But I wanted to know more. What did Perdita in the caves with us? And where were we? It was Norroy who answered my query, and in a shambling awkward voice.
"Well, we 're back again, old chap! Same old business!"
"How back!" I cried. "But how is that. Why, we were in the outer cavern."
"It's that damned Cerberus—beg your pardon. Miss Forrest. But he is, you know. Lives in Hell. ”

“ She grew frightened, and cried out to me; and I drew her nearer, and she wept.
"It is the long night," she whispered. "I did not think I was such a coward. Oh, forgive me!" She gulped back her tears and clung to me. ”

“ I murmured in her ear. "Tell me how."
"Feel any better, old chap?" broke in Norroy.
"Yes," I replied. "I am quite recovered. Indeed, I am fit for anything," I laughed. So great and strong and deep is Love that can conquer all things.
"I say, is n't Miss Forrest a brick?" he demanded heartily. "She came after us."
Me! Me! after me, O foolish and blind! I pressed her hair and it was wet and disordered. "I must learn all," I said. "Please go on, dear."
"And when you did n't come," proceeded Perdita, went back to the village, and I went to old Hawes, the boatman. ”

“ I had the connections with our prison cell safe behind me, and if I dogged the tracks of these men I should eventually find the way to the light of the sun. It was only necessary for me to keep hidden and not to risk discovery. When I had set out on my rash expedition to the caves I had taken the precaution to arm myself with a small revolver. I felt this now in my pocket in order to be prepared for any emergency. It was clear we were dealing with unscrupulous rogues, and I was ready to fight to the end for what I felt was our last chance. ”

“ There was another explanation of the seeming mercy of our enemies. If Perdita had been allowed to go and had escaped the sea, she would have brought down a new expedition upon the rogues. Yet it was not clear that they had any interest in our death. Of course Norroy's evidence was sufficient to send the dwarf and his companion to prison ”

“ They may come in time to wake us up."
We had that beautiful idea to drop off from; but, alas, it is not so easy to control the mind. I believe Norroy went to sleep, but Perdita did not, nor I. And the silence and the darkness suddenly began to oppress her. ”

“ We sat and talked, and our spirits were amazing for people immured in Stygian darkness, and beset by obdurate and unscrupulous foes.
"Anyhow," was Norroy's summing up, "we 've got possession of the grub. We 're going to confound their knavish tricks. And what's more, with this blessed mine under me I'm not going to lose the Castle. I 'll stick by what's stuck by us all these centuries. I shan't need to beg of my Rivers cousin, the little manufacturess."
Perdita's hand was in mine and I felt it jump. Rivers! ”