"Horrible!" she muttered.
"Not at all. Didn't he disfigure me? I tell you that out West we consider ourselves entitled to satisfaction in cases of this kind."
"Why did you come here, Thomas?"
"To see you. I found out that you had married again, and knowing that you were my property, I thought I could make something out of you."
"Your property?" she repeated.
"Why, certainly. Does not a wife belong to her husband?"
Mrs. Smithers groaned.
"Do you wish to destroy me?" She asked.
"Oh, dear, no! I'll own up that you made a mistake in marrying me—that I was always a bad husband, and that you were better without than with me. Further than that, I will confess that I don't blame you for taking the first chance that offered after you heard of my death, because you had to keep yourself and the child."
"Then why persecute me, Thomas?" inquired Mrs. Smithers, raising her moist eyes to his.