"I know how it must have looked to you--I've thought of it a thousand
times--but there were extenuating circumstances. I came here 'broke'
with only a little black case of pills and a few bandages. My hotel bill
was overdue and my little drug stock exhausted. I was 'up against
it'--desperate--and I believed if that fellow got away I'd never see or
hear of him again. I've had that experience and I was just in a position
where I couldn't afford to take a chance. There isn't much practice
here, it's a miserably healthful place, and necessity sometimes makes us
seem sordid whether we are or not. I'd like your good opinion, Mr. Van
Lennop. Won't you try and see my position from a more charitable point
of view?"
He wanted to be fair to her, he intended to be just, and yet he found
himself only able to say--
"I can't quite understand how you could find it in your heart even to
hesitate in a case like that."
"I meant to do it in the end," she pleaded. "But I was wrong, I see that
now, and I've been sorrier than you can know. Please be charitable."
She put out her hand impulsively and he took it--reluctantly. He
wondered why she repelled him so strongly even while recognizing the odd
charm of manner which was undoubtedly hers when she chose to display it.
"I hope we'll be good friends," she said earnestly.
"I trust so," he murmured, but in his heart he knew they never would be
"good friends."