"Was, eh? We'll see if it was. And you lied about Henderson?"
She shrugged her shoulders carelessly. "Oh, I was stringing you about Henderson!"
Anton looked at her almost admiringly. "You're a wonder, kid; but—you're in awful bad with me. It don't make any difference what you say—after this. I'll believe what I see. And I'm going to have what I told you, I'm going to have the goods—right now—the goods or the girl—do you get me?"
The Storm girl sprang to her feet, eyes blazing, hands clenched.
"If you dare——" she defied him, but he waved aside her immediate alarm with a reassuring gesture.
"You can cork up the sky rockets, kid. I'm not going to touch you or—kiss you or—anything, unless you want me to."
"Want you to?" she stared at him. "Well, of all the conceited——"
"No, no," he interrupted, "I don't mean that you're stuck on me, girlie. I know how you feel, but if it's a question between going to jail and—er——" now he leered at her disgustingly, "giving me a sort of—er—half interest in your tender young beauty——"
"You beast! You coward!" she cried, her cheeks flaming.
He rose slowly and faced her with hard, narrowing eyes, but he kept his distance.