“Where are you off to?” he asked.
The man pointed to the brilliantly lit house.
“There!” he answered fiercely. “I am going to see her. To-night! At once! She shall not escape me this time!”
“What do you want with her?” Macheson asked.
“Money—or exposure, such an exposure,” the man answered. “But she will pay. She owes a good deal; but she will pay.”
“And supposing,” Macheson said, “that I were to tell you that this lady is a friend of mine, and that I will not have you intrude upon her—what then?”
Something venomous gleamed in the man’s eyes. A short unpleasant laugh escaped him.
“Not all the devils in hell,” he declared, “would keep me from going to her. For five years she’s fooled us! Not a day longer, not an hour!”
Macheson’s hand rested lightly upon the man’s shoulder.