Angel's Ransom Read Free

anymore . Good night.’
    Even then he would still have made a further effort, but he had a feeling that she deliberately chose to make the parting a chilly one. Without meaning to do so, he had piqued her, and she was closing the door on their brief acquaintance. He smiled his regret that it was so, said good night, and left her.
    Following the bright beam of the flashlight down the steep insecurity of the cliffside st eps, he wondered again that any one, even a girl who always accepted challenges, could descend alone with so little hesitation into the darkness and uncertainty of a way whose end she did not know.

    ‘Very amusing,’ the buglike man said, sneering. He was waiting on a shadowed bench only a few yards from where Marian had parted from Blake. ‘Very amusing indeed. Did you enjoy the way I scrambled for cover after you persuaded your obliging compatriot to turn his searchlight on me?’
    ‘I didn’t persuade him. I didn’t even know he was going to do it.’
    ‘It doesn’t matter.’ His manner changed to mock humility. ‘I cannot complain. I should be grateful that you are willing to soil your clean American hands with a deception. I congratulate you on your acting ability, dear talented Miss Ellis. You limp as convincingly as a Greek beggar.’
    ‘That ’s what you wanted, isn’t it?’
    ‘Of course. But I did not realize that I was engaging such superior talent.’ It was another sneer. ‘The captain was clearly captivated by your feminine charms. Were you in turn thrilled by the clasp of his manly arms, or was the coy thrust of the bosom on the gangplank only another evidence of your acting ability?’
    Marian said coolly, ‘If all you’re going to do is sit there and jeer at me, I’m going to bed. Good night. We can talk in the morning.’
    ‘No!’ He came up off the bench in a bound, his temper again changing instantaneously. Standing, he came barely to her shoulder, but the driving force of his personality made him seem taller than he was. ‘What did you learn? When do they intend to leave?’
    ‘Tomorrow. Today, I mean. In the morning.’
    ‘It doesn’t leave me much time.’ He chewed at a thumbnail that was already bitten to nothing. ‘Curse them! Where are they off to?’
    ‘He wouldn’t say.’
    ‘When will Farr come aboard?’
    ‘s ome time before they sail. He couldn’t be more definite.’
    ‘You’re useless! Useless! You accomplished nothing! Have you even an excuse to go back aboard?’
    ‘I left my bag. But if I’m so useless to you, I won’t bother to go back after it. Good night!’
    ‘You must come!’ He seized her wrist as she turned angrily away. ‘I’ve explained how important it is that you be there. I demand it!’
    The strolling agent was near them now, watching. It was the only thing that kept her from snatching her wrist free and walking off. A public scene that might invite police attention was not something either of them would welcome.
    She said frostily, ‘You’re paying me to follow your instructions, not for the privilege of putting your hands on me.’
    He released her, glaring in impotent rage as the agent walked on by. With an enormous effort, he said, ‘Forgive me. I forgot myself. My instructions are that you will accompany me to the yacht tomorrow morning.’
    ‘Very well. Do you want anything more of me now?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Then if you don’t mind, I’m going to bed. Good night.’ He stood aside to let her pass, and she was conscious of the impact of his silent hatred as she walked away. Little Mr Holtz had an ego far too large for his small body. She took an unkind pleasure in frustrating him when he became too imperative.
    She could not decide whether he or Blake provoked her more. Two more dissimilar men could hardly be imagined; jeering, spiteful, angry little Mr Holtz, with his fluent and wholly unnatural copybook English, a figure she could only think of as ‘foreign’ even while recognizing that she, the American, was