"I'm going to tear your soul out--yes, you've got a soul, or I would
never have gone down into the depths with you! But now I'm through
serving you without receiving so much as a smile," she continued
fiercely, her body swaying, but her aim still true. "I don't ask for my
rights or my just dues; a smile and a kind word now and then is all I
ask. My pride is not all gone; I'd like to be proud of you just once. I
lie about you to my friends--to my dearest friends--and you convict me
with the miserable truth! I clung to you through all your vices, I clung
to you even when you killed, I clung to you because I knew that
somewhere within you there was something that clamoured for me, that
clung to my affection. But feeble as it was, it is dead now. And you are
the shell, the ugly hulk, a thing without the soul that I cared for! But
I'm through with you--I'm going to kill you--don't you move--I'm through
with you--through--" The next moment she dropped the weapon, and it fell
clattering to the floor.
"No, no," she cried, apparently calm now. "I won't kill you--I wouldn't
be guilty of such a thing. You're not worth it," she burst out into a
wild laugh. "You're not worth it--no--no--no--" she cried, trailing off
into hysteria.
At that instant Shirley Bloodgood once more entered the room. Some
instinct had brought her back again.
"Miriam!" she exclaimed.
Miriam burst forth into another wild laugh, and then threw herself into
the arms of the girl, where she lay unconscious for some moments.
"She's fainted," said Shirley, glancing at Challoner, accusingly.
Challoner stood stupidly where he was for an instant. Then he thrust his
hand into his trousers pocket and pulled out a fifty dollar bill, saying
in a new strange tone:--
"Shirley, I took this fifty dollar bill from the drawer over
there--you'd better take it--it belongs to you."
The girl took it wonderingly.
"I'll take care of her," Challoner went on, gently taking the form of
his young wife from Shirley and holding her in his arms.
It was thus that Shirley Bloodgood left them; and as the door closed on
her, Challoner leaned over Miriam and stroked her face and kissed her
affectionately while the tears rolled down his cheeks. That same night
she was taken to a hospital with a raging fever.