"
Joan turned her head back with a laugh. "My poor m'sieu'! You have such
bad luck. Contraband? Let me see? Liquors and wines and tobacco are
contraband. Is it not so?" Lafarge nodded.
"Is money--gold--contraband?"
"Money? No; of course not, and you know it. Why won't you be sensible?
You're getting me into a bad hole, and--"
"I want to see how you'll come out. If you come out well--" She paused
quaintly.
"Yes, if I come out well--"
"If you come out very well, and we do not sink you before supper, I may
ask you to come and see me."
"H'm! Is that all? After spoiling my reputation, I'm to be let come and
see you."
"Isn't that enough to start with? What has spoiled your reputation?"
"A man, a boy, and a slip of a girl." He looked meaningly enough at her
now. She laughed. "See," he added; "give me a chance. Let me search
the Ninety-Nine for contraband,--that's all I've got to do with,--and
then I can keep quiet about the rest. If there's no contraband, whatever
else there is, I'll hold my tongue."
"I've told you what there is."
He did not understand. "Will you let me search?" Joan's eyes flashed.
"Once and for all, no, Orvay Lafarge. I am the daughter of a man whom
you and your men would have killed or put in the dock. He's been a
smuggler, and I know it. Who has he robbed? Not the poor, not the
needy; but a rich Government that robs also.
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