"Do not be a child. Are you English, and do you ask who would believe a woman telling these tales of a man? Do you not know that men are ruined every day in England by the lies of women? The better the man, the more abandoned the woman, the more incredible her lies, so much the more certain is his condemnation. Bah, you know it! I should not hesitate about the lies, and, if I made them sufficiently repulsive, your noble countrymen would not hesitate to believe them. Do you doubt it? What think you of my plan?"
He made no answer; he was trying to command himself.
"Now, tell me! Shall I have my money as usual?"
"Before I left the house," he said, "I had resolved that the money ought to be paid to you. So long as you are my wife, you ought not to starve."
"Good! It is an annuity for life!"
"No. I would give a hand or an eye to be free from you."
"They would be useless to me, my dear. Would you give the fair fame of Lettice? It will cost no less."
"Let that pass!"
"Yes, we will let that pass. Then, I receive my money as usual?"
"Go to Mr. Larmer to-morrow; he will pay it."