Winifred had risen to her feet, and was sitting in an easy-chair. She was leaning forward, with her face half buried in her hands. Deane turned towards her.
"Winifred—"
She avoided his gaze. "Don't!" she begged. "Please don't talk to me. I can't bear it."
"But I may say—" he began.
"No!" she interrupted, almost fiercely. "Please say nothing. I mean it. I cannot bear to talk! I cannot bear to be talked to!"
A little throb of anger darkened his face. She had not even common gratitude for her rescue! She had but one thought, one regret,—the loss of that future of luxury to attain which she had bound herself to him. A curious anger burned in his blood,—a pain which he could not analyze shook his heart. Then there came the sound of voices on the stairs, feminine voices raised in anger! The door was burst open. Ruby stood there upon the threshold, looking in upon them, her lips curved in an ugly smile of triumph, her eyes ablaze. Behind her stood the landlady, a black bodice in her hand, her forehead wrinkled in a deprecating frown.
"So you've found her, have you?" Ruby exclaimed, her face turned towards Deane, her finger outstretched to where Winifred sat shrinking back in her chair. "Thieves, both of you! Thieves! Thieves!"
Deane pointed to Winifred's torn clothing. "And that?" he asked.
"It was restitution," the girl declared fiercely. "The deed was mine! Your millions are mine! She stole it for you—her brother was a murderer for you! How do you think the story will look in the newspapers, eh? Inciting to murder and theft! Isn't that a crime? Swindlers, both of you!" she cried passionately. "You'd have kept me a beggar, eh," she cried to Winifred, "while you clad your poor body in silks and laces, covered yourself with jewels and made him marry you? And I was to starve!—to starve or worse! Well, we'll see! We'll see!"
"Young lady," Deane said calmly, "you are being led away by your imagination. You have taken a paper away from Miss Rowan which you seem to think is going to turn out a sort of El Dorado. It isn't worth the paper it's written on."