'
'So I perceive,' he answered, smiling. 'Do you always carry it about
with you, like a modern Lucrezia Borgia?'
'Yes,' she answered quietly; 'it never leaves me, you see,' with a
sneer. 'As you said yourself, it's always well to be prepared for
emergencies.'
'So it appears,' observed Vandeloup, with a yawn, sitting up. 'I
wouldn't use that poison if I were you; it is risky.'
'Oh, no, it's not,' answered Kitty; 'it is fatal in its results, and
leaves no trace behind.'
'There you are wrong,' replied Gaston, coolly; 'it does leave traces
behind, but makes it appear as if apoplexy was the cause of death.
Give me the bottle?' peremptorily.
'No!' she answered, defiantly, clenching it in her hand.
'I say yes,' he said, in an angry whisper; 'that poison is my
secret, and I'm not going to have you play fast and loose with it;
give it up,' and he placed his hand on her wrist.
'You hurt my wrist,' she said.
'I'll break your wrist, my darling,' he said, quietly, 'if you don't
give me that bottle.'
Kitty wrenched her hand away, and rose to her feet.
'Sooner than that, I'll throw it away,' she said, and before he
could stop her, she flung the bottle out on to the lawn, where it
fell down near the trees.
'Bah! I will find it,' he said, springing to his feet, but Kitty was
too quick for him.
'M. Vandeloup,' she said aloud, so that everyone could hear; 'kindly
take me back to the ball-room, will you, to finish our valse.
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