"I liked her very much."
"Then I must say you've got a very odd taste. Did you like him?"
"No. I did not see so much of him, and I think that the manners of women are less objectionable than those of men. But I want to tell you what passed between her and me."
"If it is about her husband's business she ought to have held her tongue, and you had better hold yours now."
This was not a happy beginning, but still she was determined to go on. "It was I think more about your business than his."
"Then it was infernal impudence on her part, and you should not have listened to her for a moment."
"You do not want to ruin her and her children!"
"What have I to do with her and her children? I did not marry her, and I am not their father. He has got to look to that."
"She thinks that you are enticing him into risks which he cannot afford."
"Am I doing anything for him that I ain't doing for myself! If there is money made, will not he share it? If money has to be lost, of course he must do the same." Lopez in stating his case omitted to say that whatever capital was now being used belonged to his partner. "But women when they get together talk all manner of nonsense. Is it likely that I shall alter my course of action because you tell me that she tells you that he tells her that he is losing money? He is a half-hearted fellow who quails at every turn against him. And when he is crying drunk I dare say he makes a poor mouth to her."