“The devil you did!” broke from the Girl’s lips, but with a sound that was not unlike a sob.
“I did, believe me, I did,” insisted the man. “I meant to go straight and take you with me—but only honestly—when I could honestly. I meant to work for you. Why, every word you said to me to-night about being a thief cut into me like a knife. Over and over again I have said to myself, she must never know. And now—well, it’s all over—I have finished.”
“An’ that’s all?” questioned the Girl with averted face.
“No—yes—what’s the use...?”
The Girl’s anger blazed forth again.
“But there’s jest one thing you’ve overlooked explainin’, Mr. Johnson. It shows exactly what you are. It wasn’t so much your bein’ a road agent I got against you. It’s this:” And here she stamped her foot excitedly. “You kissed me—you got my first kiss.”
Johnson hung his head.
“You said,” kept on the Girl, hotly, “you’d ben thinkin’ o’ me ever since you saw me at Monterey, an’ all the time you walked straight off an’ ben kissin’ that other woman.” She shrugged her shoulder and laughed grimly. “You’ve got a girl,” she continued, growing more and more indignant. “It’s that I’ve got against you. It’s my first kiss I’ve got against you. It’s that Nina Micheltoreña that I can’t forgive. So now you can git—git!” And with these words she unbolted the door and concluded tensely:
“If they kill you I don’t care. Do you hear, I don’t care....”
At those bitter words spoken by lips which failed so utterly to hide their misery, the Girl’s face became colourless.