"I am flying from the town," he said. "The hue and cry is out after
me. I beg you to let me have a moment's speech with Miss Desire."
"You impudent rascal," cried Edwards. "What do you mean by this. If
you do not instantly go, I will arrest you myself. See my daughter,
forsooth! Get out of here, fellow!" and he made a threatening step
forward, and then fell back again, for though Perez' attitude of
appeal was unchanged, he looked terribly excited and pertinacious.
"Only a word," he cried, his pleading eyes fixed on the storekeeper's
angry ones. "A sight of her, that's all I ask, sir. You shall stand
between us. Do you think I would harm her? Think, sir, I did not treat
you ill when I was master. I did not deny you what you asked."
There was something more terrifying in the almost whining appeal of
Perez' voice than the most violent threat could be, so intense was the
repressed emotion it indicated. But as Edwards' forbidding and angry
face plainly indicated that his words were having no effect, this
accent of abjectness suddenly broke off in a tremendous cry:
"Great God, I must see her!"
Edwards was plainly very much frightened, but he did not yield.
"You shall not," he replied between his teeth.
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