"I won't go--not without her."
"Because you're so fond of her, eh? So fond, your first thought on
quitting the--country was to come here to get her in trouble. If you've
been traced--"
"Ah! You wouldn't like that, eh?" sneered Tom. "Would you?"
"Well, I've had my share of it. And she ain't. Still--I ... Just what
would it be worth to you to have me out of the way?"
"Oh, Tom--Tom--" I cried.
But Obermuller got in front of me.
"It would be worth exactly one dollar and seventy-five cents. I think
it will amount to about that for cab-hire. I guess the cars aren't any
too safe for you, or it might be less. It may amount to something more
before I get you shipped before the mast on the first foreign-bound
boat. But what's more important," he added, bringing his fist down
with a mighty thump on the table, "you have just ten seconds to make up
your mind. At the end of that time I'll ring for the police."
* * * * * * * * * * *
I went down to the boat to see it sail, Mag, at seven this morning.
No, not to say good-by to him. He didn't know I was there. It was to
say good-by to my old Tommy; the one I loved. Truly I did love him,
Mag, though he never cared for me. No, he didn't. Men don't pull down
the women they love; I know that now. If Tom Dorgan had ever cared for
me he wouldn't have made a thief of me. If he'd cared, the last place
on earth he'd have come to, when he knew the detectives would be on his
track, would have been just the first place he made for. If he'd
cared, he--
But it's done, Mag. It's all over. Cheap--that's what he is, this Tom
Dorgan. Cheaply bad--a cheap bully, cheap-brained. Remember my
wishing he'd have been a ventriloquist? Why, that man that tried to
sell me to Obermuller hasn't sense enough to be a good scene-shifter.
Oh--
The firm of Dorgan & Olden is dissolved, Mag. The retiring partner has
gone into the theatrical business. As for Dorgan--the real one, poor
fellow! jolly, handsome, big Tom Dorgan--he died. Yes, he died,
Maggie, and was buried up there in the prison graveyard. A hard lot
for a boy; but it's not the worst thing that can happen to him. He
might become a man; such a man as that fellow that sailed away before
the mast this morning.