"Let me get it for you" I said. To my amazement, she put her foot
over it.

"Please see what Mr. Turner is doing," she said. "It is the key
to my jewel-case."

"Will you let me see it?"

"No."

"It is not the key to a jewel-case."

"It does not concern you what it is."

"It is the key to the storeroom door"

"You are stronger than I am. You look the brute. You can knock me
away and get it."

I knew then, of course, that it was the storeroom key. But I could
not take it by force. And so defiantly she faced me, so valiant was
every line of her slight figure, that I was ashamed of my impulse to
push her aside and take it. I loved her with every inch of my
overgrown body, and I did the thing she knew I would do. I bowed
and left the cabin. But I had no intention of losing the key. I
could not take it by force, but she knew as well as I did what
finding it there in Turner's room meant. Turner had locked me in.
But I must be able to prove it--my wits against hers, and the
advantage mine. I had the women under guard.