He took the scissors from the toilet-table where they lay before
the looking-glass and cut the cords by which Ella was secured.

With a sigh of relief she straightened herself from the confined
position in which she had been held and began to rub her wrists,
which were slightly inflamed where the cords had bruised her soft
skin.

"Like to tie him up that way now?" asked Deede Dawson. "You shall
if you like."

She turned and looked full at Dunn and he looked back at her with
eyes as steady and as calm as her own.

Again she showed that faint doubt and wonder which had flickered
through her level gaze before as though she felt that there was
more in all this than was apparent, and did not wish to condemn him
utterly without a hearing.

But it was plain also that she did not wish to say too much before
her stepfather and she answered carelessly

"I don't think I could tie him tight enough, besides, he looks
ridiculous enough like that with his hands up in the air."

It was her revenge for what he had made her suffer. He felt himself
flush and he knew that she knew that her little barbed shaft had
struck home.