“I am much obliged, very much obliged, I am sure; No. 52. but does it not occur to you that I can obtain a release without acceding to any such condition?”
“MR. BOURNE—DOCTOR!” EJACULATED WRENCH, WHO SUDDENLY ENTERED THE ROOM.
“I know your mercenary, grasping nature; you would not willingly part with a shilling of the money.”
“No, I don’t intend to do so. Certainly not to such a shameless, abandoned woman as you are. I was a fool—worse than a fool—to be cozened into marrying a common harlot.”
“Mr. Bourne, your language is intolerable. What were you at the time? What are you now? I will proclaim you to all the world as a brute and a ruffian, for such you are. If you had one spark of manhood in your coarse, callous nature you would blush at such observations.”
“Thank you, madam, for your good opinion. We know each other pretty well, I believe, and there’s no very great love lost between us. I shall find the means of proving your marriage with William Rawton, notwithstanding the assertion made by that wretch as to its being an illegal one. When I am in a position to prove it—which I soon shall be—out of this house you go.”
“I am in danger of my life while I remain here,” exclaimed his wife.
“What do mean, madam?” he returned sharply.
“Oh, you know what I mean.”