Rosanne sat listening. It was plain that Hiangeli's fate was a matter of indifference to her, but some storm was brewing behind her smouldering eyes. Ravenal went on calmly:
"It's been a good game while it lasted. The pity is that it must come to an end."
Then the storm broke forth.
"But it must not come to an end!" she burst out violently. "I can't live without it!"
The man looked at her reflectively.
"You're a great sport. I've never known a woman with finer nerve.
But, just the same, the game has got to come to an end."
"Game! You don't understand. It is meat and drink to me. I must have diamonds." She sounded like a woman pleading for some drug to deaden pain, memory, and conscience. Her voice was wild; she put out her hands to him in an imploring gesture. "I have given up everything for them—everything!"
He shook his head.
"We can't do any more of it," he said inflexibly. "Not for a year, at the outside."
Her hands fell on the table. She shivered as though she already felt cold and hunger.