'You must run away,' he whispered, with a caressing smile.
'Alone?'
'For a time, yes,' he answered, throwing away his cigarette;
'listen--next week you must meet me here, and I will give you money
to keep you in Melbourne for some time; then you must leave Ballarat
at once and wait for me at the Buttercup Hotel in Gertrude Street,
Carlton; you understand?'
'Yes,' faltered Kitty, nervously; 'I--I understand.'
'And you will come?' he asked anxiously, looking keenly at her, and
pressing the little hand he held in his own. Just as she was going
to answer, as if warning her of the fatal step she was about to
take, a low roll of thunder broke on their ears, and Kitty shrank
back appalled from her lover's embrace.
'No! no! no!' she almost shrieked, hysterically, trying to tear
herself away from his arms, 'I cannot; God is speaking.'
'Bah!' sneered Vandeloup, with an evil look on his handsome face,
'he speaks too indistinctly for us to guess what he means; what are
you afraid of? I will join you in Melbourne in two or three weeks,
and then we will be married.'
'But my father,' she whispered, clasping her hot hands convulsively.
'Well, what of him?' asked Vandeloup, coolly; 'he is so wrapped up
in his religion that he will not miss you; he will never find out
where you are in Melbourne, and by the time he does you will be my
wife. Come,' he said, ardently, whispering the temptation in her
ear, as if he was afraid of being heard, 'you must consent; say yes,
Bebe; say yes.
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