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" Now let me go, dear sir," she said, in her gentlest voice, " and I will come again to morrow."
" You make me jealous of the very man I am about to release," he said, his arm about her waist once more.
" Let me see him free," she said, her heart beating, every nerve strained with fear and apprehension, u and I will come to you the next moment."
" Nay, my darling, I cannot spare you," he said rough- ly, taking her into his arms and half stifling her, his hot breath upon her cheek, but the next moment she was free, and the knife Ferrari had given her flashing above her head, the fire of a tigress in her eyes.
" Let me go, or call in your servant to carry out my corpse."
For a second Petronovitch was checked. But he was not daunted, either by the knife or by Anna's threats, though he pretended to be.
" Forgive me," he said. " I had an idea that you Jewish girls were kind and generous. I had no idea you carried such formidable greetings for lovers as that. We are to know more of each other before we are friends ? Well, so be it. Forgive me, and I forgive you. Put up your knife, and keep your promise, for I am now going to put your word to the test the moment you see him free, you will come to me ? "
"I said so," Anna replied, off her guard and replacing her knife in her bosom, as Petronovitch took up his pen to write the order for Losinski's release.
But Anna had not gauged the fiendish deceit of the man she had hoped to content with such complaisance as she had struggled to permit herself in her desperate case.
" I give you my word," he said, " I will not molest you, Be seated. I only now desire to have your rabbi released that I may see how you ladies of the chosen people keep your word."
