"Well, what was it? What did he tell you?"
"I think you'll find it plenty!"
"Come on!"
"_You_!" She pointed at him.
"Let's have it."
"He told me"--she burst out furiously--"he said you were a
professional sharper!"
"Oh, no. Old Pryor doesn't talk like that."
She came toward him. "He told me you were notorious over half of
Europe," she cried vehemently. "He said he'd arrested you himself,
once, in Rotterdam, for smuggling jewels, and that you were
guilty, but managed to squirm out of it. He said the police had
put you out of Germany and you'd be arrested if you ever tried to
go back. He said there were other places you didn't dare set foot
in, and he said he could have you arrested in this country any
time he wanted to, and that he was going to do it if he found
you'd been doing anything wrong. Oh, yes, he told me a few
things!"
He caught her by the shoulder. "See here, Cora, do you believe all
this tommy-rot?"
She shook his hand off instantly. "Believe it? I know it! There
isn't a straight line in your whole soul and mind: you're crooked
all over. You've been crooked with _me_ from the start. The moment
that man began to speak, I knew every word of it was true. He came
to me because he thought it was right: he hasn't anything against
you on his own account; he said he _liked_ you! I _knew_ it was
true, I tell you."
He tried to put his hand on her shoulder again, beginning to speak
remonstratingly, but she cried out in a rage, broke away from him,
and ran to the other end of the room.
"Keep away! Do you suppose I like you to touch me? He told me you
always had been a wonder with women! Said you were famous for
`handling them the right way'--using them! Ah, that was pleasant
information for _me_, wasn't it! Yes, I could have confirmed him
on that point. He wanted to know if I thought you'd been doing
anything of that sort here. What he meant was: Had you been using
me?"
"What did you tell him?" The question rang sharply on the instant.
"Ha! That gets into you, does it?" she returned bitterly. "You
can't overdo your fear of that man, I think, but _I_ didn't tell
him anything. I just listened and thanked him for the warning, and
said I'd have nothing more to do with you. How _could_ I tell him?
Wasn't it I that made papa lend you his name, and got Richard to
hand over his money? Where does that put _me_?" She choked; sobs
broke her voice. "Every--every soul in town would point me out as
a laughing-stock--the easiest fool out of the asylum! Do you
suppose _I_ want you arrested and the whole thing in the papers?
What I want is Richard's money back, and I'm going to have it!"
"Can you be quiet for a moment and listen?" he asked gravely.
"If you'll tell me what chance I have to get it back."
"Cora," he said, "you don't want it back."
"Oh? Don't I?"
"No." He smiled faintly, and went on. "Now, all this nonsense of
old Pryor's isn't worth denying. I have met him abroad; that much
is true--and I suppose I have rather a gay reputation----"
She uttered a jeering shout.
"Wait!" he said. "I told you I'd cut quite a swathe, when I first
talked to you about myself. Let it go for the present and come
down to this question of Lindley's investment----"
"Yes. That's what I want you to come down to."
"As soon as Lindley paid in his check I gave him his stock
certificates, and cabled the money to be used at once in the
development of the oil-fields----"
"What! That man told me you'd `promoted' a South American rubber
company once, among people of the American colony in Paris. The
details he gave me sounded strangely familiar!"
"You'd as well be patient, Cora. Now, that money has probably been
partially spent, by this time, on tools and labour and----"
"What are you trying to----"
"I'll show you. But first I'd like you to understand that nothing
can be done to me. There's nothing `on' me! I've acted in good
faith, and if the venture in oil is unsuccessful, and the money
lost, I can't be held legally responsible, nor can any one prove
that I am. I could bring forty witnesses from Naples to swear they
have helped to bore the wells. I'm safe as your stubborn friend,
Mr. Trumble, himself. But now then, suppose that old Pryor is
right--as of course he isn't--suppose it, merely for a moment,
because it will aid me to convey something to your mind. If I were
the kind of man he says I am, and, being such a man, had planted
the money out of reach, for my own use, what on earth would induce
me to give it back?"
"I knew it!" she groaned. "I knew you wouldn't!"
"You see," he said quietly, "it would be impossible. We must go on
supposing for a moment: if I had put that money away, I might be
contemplating a departure----"
"You'd better!" she cried fiercely. "He's going to find out
everything you've been doing. He said so. He's heard a rumour that
you were trying to raise money here; he told me so, and said he'd
soon----"
"The better reason for not delaying, perhaps. Cora, see here!" He
moved nearer her. "Wouldn't I need a lot of money if I expected to
have a beautiful lady to care for, and----"
"You idiot!" she screamed. "Do you think I'm going with you?"
He flushed heavily. "Well, aren't you?" He paused, to stare at
her, as she wrung her hands and sobbed with hysterical laughter.
"I thought," he went on, slowly, "that you would possibly even
insist on that."
"Oh, Lord, Lord, Lord!" She stamped her foot, and with both hands
threw the tears from her eyes in wide and furious gestures. "He
told me you were married----"
"Did you let him think you hadn't known that?" demanded Corliss.
"I tell you I didn't let him think _anything_! He said you would
never be able to get a divorce: that your wife hates you too much
to get one from you, and that she'll never----"
"See here, Cora," he said harshly, "I told you I'd been married; I
told you before I ever kissed you. You understood perfectly----"
"I did not! You said you _had_ been. You laughed about it. You
made me think it was something that had happened a long time ago.
I thought of course you'd been divorced----"
"But I told you----"
"You told me after! And then you made me think you could easily
get one--that it was only a matter of form and----"
"Cora," he interrupted, "you're the most elaborate little
self-deceiver I ever knew. I don't believe you've ever faced
yourself for an honest moment in----"
"Honest! _you_ talk about `honest'! You use that word and face
_me_?"
He came closer, meeting her distraught eyes squarely. "You love to
fool yourself, Cora, but the role of betrayed virtue doesn't suit
you very well. You're young, but you're a pretty experienced woman
for all that, and you haven't done anything you didn't want to.
You've had both eyes open every minute, and we both know it. You
are just as wise as----"
"You're lying and _you_ know it! What did _I_ want to make Richard
go into your scheme for? You made a fool of me."
"I'm not speaking of the money now," he returned quickly. "You'd
better keep your mind on the subject. Are you coming away with
me?"
"What for?" she asked.
"What _for_?" he echoed incredulously. "I want to know if you're
coming. I promise you I'll get a divorce as soon as it's
possible----"
"Val," she said, in a tone lower than she had used since he
entered the room; "Val, do you want me to come?"
"Yes."
"Much?" She looked at him eagerly.
"Yes, I do." His answer sounded quite genuine.
"Will it hurt you if I don't?"
"Of course it will."
"Thank heaven for that," she said quietly.
"You honestly mean you won't?"
"It makes me sick with laughing just to imagine it! I've done some
hard little thinking, lately, my friend--particularly last night,
and still more particularly this morning since that man was here.
I'd cut my throat before I'd go with you. If you had your divorce
I wouldn't marry you--not if you were the last man on earth!"
"Cora," he cried, aghast, "what's the matter with you? You're too
many for me sometimes. I thought I understood a few kinds of
women! Now listen: I've offered to take you, and you can't
say----"
"Offered!" It was she who came toward him now. She came swiftly,
shaking with rage, and struck him upon the breast. "`Offered'! Do
you think I want to go trailing around Europe with you while Dick
Lindley's money lasts? What kind of a life are you `offering' me?
Do you suppose I'm going to have everybody saying Cora Madison ran
away with a jail-bird? Do you think I'm going to dodge decent
people in hotels and steamers, and leave a name in this town
that--Oh, get out! I don't want any help from you! I can take care
of myself, I tell you; and I don't have to marry _you_! I'd kill
you if I could--you made a fool of me!" Her voice rose shrilly.
"You made a fool of me!"
"Cora----" he began, imploringly.
"You made a fool of me!" She struck him again.
"Strike me," he said. "I love you!"
"Actor!"
"Cora, I want you. I want you more than I ever----"
She screamed with hysterical laughter. "Liar, liar, liar! The same
old guff. Don't you even see it's too late for the old rotten
tricks?"
"Cora, I want you to come."
"You poor, conceited fool," she cried, "do you think you're the
only man I can marry?"
"Cora," he gasped, "you wouldn't do that!"
"Oh, get out! Get out _now_! I'm tired of you. I never want to
hear you speak again."
"Cora," he begged. "For the last time----"
"_No_! You made a fool of me!" She beat him upon the breast,
striking again and again, with all her strength. "Get out, I
tell you! I'm through with you!"
He tried to make her listen, to hold her wrists: he could do
neither.
"Get out--get out!" she screamed. She pushed and dragged him
toward the door, and threw it open. Her voice thickened; she
choked and coughed, but kept on screaming: "Get out, I tell you!
Get out, get out, damn you! Damn you, _damn_ you! get out!"
Still continuing to strike him with all her strength, she forced
him out of the door.