"Now that you have got me into your
ogre's castle, you must be--kind."
"I will be kindness itself," he assured her. "You know I am the soul of
hospitality. All I have is yours."
The narrow stair ended at a small stone landing on which was a door.
Juliet stepped aside as she reached it, and waited for her host. "It's
rather like a prison," she said.
"You won't think so when you get through that door," he said. "By Jove!
To think that I've actually got you--you of all people!--here in my
stronghold! Do you realize that without my permission you can't possibly
get out again?"
Juliet's laugh was absolutely spontaneous. She faced him in that narrow
space with the poise and confidence of a queen. The light from a window
that pierced the wall above shone down upon her. In that moment she was
endowed with an extraordinary beauty that was more of being, of
personality, than of feature.
"It is exactly this that I have played for, Charles Rex," she said. "You
hold all the cards, _mon ami_. But--the game is mine."
"How so?" He was looking at her curiously, a dancing demon in his eyes.
She put out her hand to him, and as he took it, sank to the stone floor
in a superb curtsy.
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