"I wonder," she observed, but when he questioned her further she only shook her head.
"No, indeed," she said, "I won't tell you anything—but after you lose, come around."
"No, but look!" he urged. "If I lose, you lose. Come through and tell me now."
"You called me a crook," she answered spitefully, "you said I had sold you out! Do you think I will tell you, after that? No, you're so smart, go ahead—Spend your money! Hire a lot of lawyers and experts! You think I sold you out to Stoddard? Well, go ahead—you try to buy me! No, I'm going to show you, Mr. Rimrock Jones, that I have never sold out to anybody—that I can't be bought, nor sold. You need that lesson more than you need the money that you are wasting in vice and fraud."
She ended, panting with the anger that swept over her, and Rimrock thrust out his chin.
"Huh! Vice and fraud!" he repeated scornfully, "you certainly don't hunt for words. Is it vice and fraud to hire lawyers and experts and try to win back my own mine? What do you want me to do—go and kow-tow to Stoddard and ask him to please step on my neck?"
"No, I want you to do what you're going to do—spend the Company's money, and lose. That money is part mine, but I'll be glad to part with it if it will cure you of being such a fool."
They faced each other, each heated and angry, and then he showed his teeth in a smile.
"I know what's the matter," he said at last, "you're jealous of Mrs. Hardesty!"
She checked the denial that leapt to her lips to search for a more fitting retort.