"She needed a little money to buy medicine."
"Ha! So you acknowledge it?"
"I loaned her a small sum of money."
"Loaned it?"
"Exactly. She understood very well that it was not paid as a portion of her salary."
Sargent laughed derisively.
"What a bluff!" he cried. "That wouldn't go with anybody! Managers do not loan money to actors when salaries are due."
"There was nothing due under the agreement, as you know."
"Oh, you'll twist it to suit yourself. But I've made up my mind, and you pay to-night, or I quit in advance of the show."