If you cause Lord Tancred to break off the match the bargain between you and me is void." The black panther's look again appeared in her eyes, and an icy stillness settled upon her.

But she began to speak rather fast, with a catch in the breath between the sentences.
"Then, since you wish this so much for your own ends, which I cannot guess, I tell you, arrange for me to go to Paris, alone, away from him, until the wedding day.

He must hate the thought as much as I do.

We are probably both only marionettes in your hands.

Explain to the man that I will not go through the degradation of the pretence of an engagement, especially here in this England, where, _Maman_ said, they parade affections, and fiances are lovers.