“What have you came back for?” she cried, at length. “Is it money you want? I suppose it’s a sort of blackmail.”
“No, I don’t want money,” he said. “I’ll leave you the bulk of the estate. But I may as well tell you right away, you will only have a life-interest in this place. On your death it will revert to me and my successors. Those are my terms; and if you don’t agree to them, I’ll claim the whole estate again and make you only an allowance.”
“Oh, you fiend!” she cried, beside herself once more with fury. “The utter cruelty and callousness of it! It’s just a practical joke you’ve played on me, coming back like a cad when we all thought you were dead and done with. I’ll tell everybody: I’ll make your name stink in the nostrils of every man who is a gentleman.”
Jim shrugged his shoulders; and, suddenly, to his amazement she leapt at him and dug her nails into his face. He grabbed hold of her arms, and for a dreadful moment they struggled like two savages. Then she broke loose from him and dashed away amongst the misty trees at the side of the pathway, stumbling through the bracken, and crying out to him disjointed words of fury. For some moments Jim stood staring after her, listening to the crackling of the twigs which marked her progress. She was working round, it seemed, towards the gate of the manor, and presently the sounds ceased, as though she had paused to get her breath.
Thereat Jim walked back towards his rendezvous, recovering his coat and hat on the way. His brain was confused and distracted, and a feeling of nausea was upon him. Passionately he hated himself; and miserably he asked himself what Monimé would think of the whole unsavoury business were she ever to hear of it.
Chapter XVII: THE CATASTROPHE
Darkness was falling, and Jim, whose heart was in his boots, was beginning to feel cold in spite of the mildness of the day, when Smiley-face made his appearance, touching his forelock ingratiatingly.