Upon the day following the scenes described in our preceding
chapter, a strange interview was in progress in a magnificent
apartment in a house situated in one of the most fashionable
quarters of New York.
A beautiful young lady, richly attired, had been sitting alone
in the elegant apartment described when a man of dark
complexion entered the room, and, with silent step and a
pleased smile upon his dark face, he advanced toward the girl.
Just a moment preceding the entrance of the dark-faced man,
the girl had indulged in a brief soliloquy. She murmured:
"Well-well, my mind is made up. I have fooled that villain!
He thinks I love him. He thinks I have been dazzled and
bewildered by the possession of all these fine clothes and the
wearing of these costly jewels; but he is mistaken. I hate
him--I abhor him! He is an assassin! He thinks I do not know
it; but I saw him strike down that good old man, Tom Pearce,
and I have but hired him on with a promise of my love, only
that I might hold him until an opportunity offers to hand him
over to justice."
A moment the girl was thoughtful and silent, but speedily she
resumed her soliloquy, salving:
"I wonder what could have become of Vance! He lives--he has
been successful, I saw in a paper yesterday. Why does he not
come to me? Well, well! as he does not come to me, I will go
to him. It is time that I unmasked before this scoundrel, who
thinks he has won me by the tragedy through which he
temporarily obtained possession of me. But we shall see! I
am 'Renie, the Wild Girl of the Shore,' as Vance once called
rue, and I will prove myself more than a match for this deep,
designing scoundrel."
The girl had just uttered the words above quoted when the door
opened, and the man entered the room.
As stated, he advanced with a pleased smile upon his face.
"Renie, darling," he said. "I have pleasant news for you."
"Indeed!"
"Yes, my dear. To-day we sail for my beautiful home in Cuba
where you will be the belle of society, and where we shall be
married."
"We sail for Cuba to-day?"
"Yes, to-day."
"I thought you did not intend to go until the season was more
advanced?"
"I have decided to go to-day; business calls me there."
"And you sail to-day?"
"Yes."
"I cannot go with you."
"You cannot go with me?"
"No."
At that moment a most extraordinary incident occurred, but its
real character cannot be revealed until our narrative has
progressed. The incident, however, caused a complete change
to come over the girl. She had glanced in a mirror behind the
man who had just made the announcement to her, and she had
beheld a sight which caused, as stated, a complete change to
come over her demeanor. "You must go without me," sail the
girl. The latter spoke in a different tone.
The man glanced at her, and asked:
"Why Renie, what has come over you. Did you not give me to
understand that you were prepared to go with me to Cuba any
time I desired?"
"Yes; I gave you so to understand."
"Then why do you now refuse to go?"
"I will tell you; the time has come for me to unmask, Mr.
Garcia."
"The time has come for you to unmask?"
"Yes."
"I do not understand."
"You shall."
"I must."
"Murderer, I have been playing you that I might in the end
entrap you into the hands of justice."
A change had come over the demeanor of the girl; but a still
more remarkable change came over the face of Garcia. He
glanced at the girl with blazing eyes, and his hands worked
nervously and there was a tremulousness in his voice as he
asked:
"Are you mad, girl?"
"No, I am not mad. Do you not think I have been deceived; I
know you, I have known who you were all the time, thou chief
of the smugglers."
"And you have been deceiving me?"
"I have."
"And what has been your purpose?"
"To wait until a favorable moment when I could denounce you,
and hand you over to justice."
Our readers have already discerned the truth; but we will make
plain the incident which led up to the scene we are about
describing. Upon the very night Vance sailed on the yacht,
Garcia, with a gang of men, appeared after midnight at the
cottage of Tom Pearce. The old fisherman was murdered and
Renie was drugged and carried away; but the girl had been a
witness of the murder before she was found insensible lying
beside her bed.
When the girl recovered from the drug which had been
administered to her, she found herself in a magnificently
furnished apartment, and the man Garcia was at her side.
The villain had told the girl a cunning tale. He told her
that Tom Pearce had consigned her to his care, and proceeded
with a story which it is not necessary for us to repeat.
The girl knew the tale to be a lie, but, at the moment she
resolved to pretend to believe the story and fool the man,
when she could lure him on to justice and condign punishment.
She had played her part well and Garcia, who was a conceited
man, believed he had won the girl's love; and matters were
going on in the most pleasant manner, when had received news
of the capture of the gang of smugglers, and at once realized
his peril, when he determined to fly with Renie to Cuba.
It was thus matters stood when the man made the announcement
to the girl.
"Renie," said the man, "you are trifling with me; you are
having a joke at my expense."
"I am not; I am resolved to bring you to justice!"
"And you do not love me?"
"I loathe you; your presence is a curse!"
"And you have been deceiving me?"
"I Have been deliberately deceiving you."
"And you announce your perfidy?"
"Yes; I do!"
"I cannot believe that you speak truly."
"The hour has come when I must speak truly. I have been
deceiving you, but now I speak the truth."
"Girl, do you fully comprehend what you are saying!"
"I do."
"Do you know your peril?"
"Yes."
"And you dare tell me that you are a beautiful cheat?"
"I dare."
"I am amazed."
"You will be more amazed, you villain."
"You think I am a villain?"
"I know you are."
"And you hate me?"
"Yes, I hate you!"
"Once for all, are you telling me the truth now?"
"I any telling you the truth."
"Then, rash girl, beware!"