"I do not wish to see him," she announced.

Her uncle smiled.

"Possibly not, but it is part of the bargain. You can't marry the man
without seeing him. He will come and call upon you this afternoon, and,
no doubt, will bring you a ring. I trust to your honor not to show so
plainly your dislike that no man could carry through his side. Please
remember your brother's welfare depends upon your actual marriage. If
you cause Lord Tancred to break off the match the bargain between you
and me is void."

The black panther's look again appeared in her eyes, and an icy
stillness settled upon her. But she began to speak rather fast, with a
catch in the breath between the sentences.

"Then, since you wish this so much for your own ends, which I cannot
guess, I tell you, arrange for me to go to Paris, alone, away from him,
until the wedding day. He must hate the thought as much as I do. We are
probably both only marionettes in your hands. Explain to the man that I
will not go through the degradation of the pretence of an engagement,
especially here in this England, where, _Maman_ said, they parade
affections, and fiancés are lovers. _Mon Dieu!_ I will play my part--for
the visits of ceremony to his family, which I suppose must take place
even here--but beyond that, after to-day, I will not see him alone nor
have any communication with him. Is it understood?"

Francis Markrute looked at her with growing admiration. She was
gorgeously attractive in this mood. He obtained endless pleasure out of