“Not so much?”
“No.”
“But some?”
“Well, I was surprised to hear you confess that you liked the treatment you received from that low fellow.”
“Oh, you were!” came scornfully from the woman’s lips. “I understand you, Mr. Vance, and I do not like your language! Any insinuation against my character I will not stand! I see I have been wrong in thinking you a gentleman! I see I have made a mistake in permitting you to pay me some attentions! Now you are ready to presume on our friendliness.”
“No, not that! You are——”
She cut him short with a gesture that might have been given by a tragedy queen.
“You have said enough, Mr. Vance! You cannot remedy it now. Let me tell you something—let me tell you all something! Bart Hodge has acted as a gentleman toward me. Anything that has happened that may seem to contradict my statement I could account for—if I chose. Let me say something more. I admire Bart Hodge. He is young, but he doesn’t care for any living thing, and that is something that I admire in any man. When he is angry he looks as if he’d enjoy killing somebody, and I admire him for that! If he started to do a thing men or devils could not keep him from doing it, and I admire him for that! When I attempted to have sport with him, he seized me, held me, forcibly kissed me—and I admire him for that! When some one attempted to interfere in my behalf, he promptly knocked that person down, and I admire him for that! There—I’ve said my say. You know what I think of Hodge.”
“I suppose you admire him for acting like a cad on the stage?” hissed Vance. “Havener must admire him, too! Oh, he is a fine chap to admire!”
Stella looked at him and began to laugh again.