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lightly with her about Mrs. Davenant. Then the duel began in earnest, and, figuratively speaking, the sword was at Elise's throat before she had time to say, " En garde,''
    "You have some letters in your possession," he said in deceptively easy tones. "I should like to have them."
    "But, milord, that is what everyone would like, I think."
    "But I am not everyone, mademoiselle," His voice was soft. His green eyes were pitiless. "You may give them up to me voluntarily today — or another day, quite soon, I promise, involuntarily, you see, the matter is excessively tiresome, and I should like to have done with it as quickly as possible. I hope you are not in a dilatory frame of mind. In that case, I should be obliged to ask certain more efficient persons to see to it."
    His smile was utterly devastating. Were it not for his eyes, one would think he offered her carte blanche .
    "That would be tedious and inconvenient for both of us, I believe," he added. "They are such uncomfortable fellows to have about."
    Brandon, it was said, always got what he wanted, by fair means or foul. Since he was reputed to prefer the latter, Elise had no doubt his threat was genuine. Such persons as he spoke of existed, and he would not shirk at employing them. How she hated him at this moment, this devilishly handsome, rich and powerful English lord.
    " Je comprende , " she said tightly. Then she set her brain to work.

    No more was said until they reached the cramped lodgings Robert shared with his mistress. The younger man was still out, Lord Brandon having had the foresight to dispatch his cousin on an exceedingly time-consuming errand.
    The marquess accepted the glass of wine Elise offered him, and leaned back, perfectly at ease, in his chair.
    "I do not have all the letters with me," she said in French. "I can give you only some half-dozen this day."
    He answered flawlessly in the same language. He had rather not be overheard by prying landladies.
    "I did not suppose you were so careless as to keep them all in one place. Nor do I suppose," he added lightly as he turned the goblet in his hands, "you will be so impractical as to release them all. No one knows how many there are — least of all Robert."
    "I am not so reckless of my health as to deceive you, milord."
    "All the same, I shall not put temptation in your way. In addition to giving me Robert's letters, you will write one of your own to him. In it you will firmly and irrevocably, now and for all time, decline to be his wife."
    Elise's dark eyes flashed. "That I will not do," she said quietly. "If you wish such a thing, you must hire assassins as well."
    Lord Brandon covered a yawn. "I see you mean to be tiresome, after all. You are under some misapprehension that I cannot persuade you to write this letter. Let me assure you, dear lady, I can."
    She laughed. "You will torture me, I suppose? I had not thought you so foolish. I have never told Robert how his relations bully and threaten me. He is so protective — and impetuous, you know. He would insist we be married at once."
    "That is hardly to your advantage. His family will cut him off without a penny."
    "We shall make do for a few months, I think. In July he is five and twenty, and no longer depends upon their charity."
    "Yet you will always be outcasts. You will always be pinched for funds. His income is scarcely what a woman of your talents merits."
    She smiled at him over the run of her wineglass. "There is some compensation in wedding a nobleman. My mother is a whore, my father most likely a sailor. Mama never catered to the aristocracy, you see. How amazed she will be at my title! Perhaps she will come to live with us."
    "I hope you have not built too many castles in the air, mademoiselle ," he drawled, though it cost him something to suppress his revulsion at the prospect she painted for him. "Rest assured you will never marry my cousin. Or, in the unlikely event you do, please be quite certain the marriage will be dissolved —