I had no difficulty in shifting to the subject of the marriage. “I’ll cable for my lawyer,” said I. “If anyone can beat this game, Fred Norman can.”
“Yes—send for him,” said Edna. “He is canny—and a man of our world.”
“I’m going back to London to-night—” I went on.
“To-night!” she exclaimed. Her eyes filled with tears. “Godfrey—is this treating us right?”
I looked at her intently. “Don’t fake with me,” said I quietly. “It isn’t necessary.”
“What do you mean?” cried she.
“I mean, I understand perfectly that you care nothing about me, except as the source of the money you need in amusing yourself. As you see in my manner, I am not wildly agitated by that fact. So far as I’m concerned, there’s no reason why we should make each other uncomfortable.”
“What is the matter with you, Godfrey?” she said, with large widening eyes gazing at me. “You have changed entirely.”
“As you have,” said I, admiring her shrewdness, and afraid of it. “You’ve been educating. So have I. Mine has been slower than yours and along different lines. But it, too, has been thorough.”
She was not satisfied, though I’m confident my tone and manner betrayed nothing. Said she: “Some bad woman has been poisoning you against Margot and me.”