“Look here, Ralda,” he said; “just listen to me.”
“Well, what is it?” said Esmeralda. “If you think I’m going to take this money or go to England with this old mummy without you, you’re mistaken.”
“See here,” he said. “It’s my deal; you hold on till all the cards are out. I’ve looked forward to this day; somehow I always felt it would come, though I didn’t think you’d turn out such a golden heiress. The old game’s played out, Ralda, and we must take a fresh pack, and begin a new deal. It was all very well for me to be your guardian while you were just Esmeralda of Three Star, but the situation’s altered. You are now Miss Chetwynde, and the owner of a pile of dollars mountains high. You’ve got to take those dollars and live up to them; in short, you’ve got to be a swell. You’ll go to England to this Lady—whatever her name is—and learn how to play your part.”
“Not if I don’t like,” said Esmeralda. “And I don’t like—without you.”
Varley Howard rolled another cigarette, and though his face was as impassive as ever, his delicate fingers quivered slightly.
“That’s nonsense, Ralda,” he said. “I don’t want to give myself away, but, though I may shine somewhat in Three Star and similar places, I should be out of my element among your swell friends in England.”
“I don’t want any friends that are too swell for you: you’re swell enough for me. Besides, I don’t seem to fancy it. I’m quite happy. Send that old man about his business, and let’s go on as we were.”
“You can’t do that, Ralda,” he said. “Just think a moment. Suppose I did as you want me to do, what do you think your friends would say?”
“I don’t know, and don’t care,” she remarked.
“But I do. They’d say that I’d persuaded you to stay here, or that if I hadn’t persuaded you, that I let you—an innocent girl, ignorant of the world—have your own way, and so ruined your life. That would be rather rough on me, Ralda.”