Читать книгу Charles Peace, or The Adventures of a Notorious Burglar онлайн

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“I won’t say nuffin’ o’ the sort, not at present.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know enough of you,” she answered with the greatest simplicity; “that’s one reason.”

“And the other?”

She made no answer.

“The other!” he shouted in a voice of thunder. “There is someone else in the case—​is that it?”

“I won’t answer you.”

“Then you have been making a fool of me all this time,” he cried, in a voice of concentrated passion. “You treacherous infamous girl; but I’ll let you know, my lady, that Charles Peace is not to be trampled upon with impunity—​understand that.”

He caught her by the wrist and held it with the grip of a vice.

“Let me go—​ye hurt me—​let me go!” she exclaimed in some alarm.

“Not till you give me the name of my rival. Until you do that I will not release you.”

He dragged her forcibly along the pathway, and displayed such an excess of fury that the girl was seriously alarmed.

“I must ha’ bin a born fool to ha’ come here, and I be rightly served. Let me go!”

“Answer my question first—​his name—​tell me the fellow’s name and I’ll then release you—​not before. You’ve played me false, and you know it.”