feel absolutely sure she was on our side, so that we would both be there
in that trap when she and Peter came back."

"It's a good thing he was such a coward, Bessie."

"Oh, I think he'd be brave enough if he just had to fight with a man, so
that it was the sort of fighting he was used to. You see it wasn't his
plan, and when I said I'd use that knife he couldn't see why he should
run any risk when all the profit was for the other man."

"And when you played that trick with your voice he was frightened,
because he'd never heard of anything of that sort, and he didn't know
what was coming next. I think that would frighten a good many people who
are really brave."

"Bessie, why do I always get into so much trouble? All this happened
just because I changed those signs that day."

"Oh, I don't know about that, Dolly. It might have happened anyhow. I've
got an idea now that they knew we were around, and that John planned to
kidnap one of us and keep us until someone paid him a lot of money to
let us go. Something Lolla said made me think that."

"Then he was just playing a joke when he said he wanted to marry me?"

"Yes, I think so, because I don't think he was foolish enough to think
he could ever really get you to do that. I did think so at first, but if
that had been so I'm quite sure that Lolla wouldn't have helped him."

"She'd have been jealous, you mean?"