In some way she mastered him, even in his ugly mood.
"Well, well," he growled, "I admit we don't get on very well in our little love affair; but I swear you drive me out of my mind. I'll never find another woman in the world like you. It's Sir Richard Pakenham asks you to begin a new future with himself."
"We begin no future, my lord."
"What do you mean? Have you lied to me? Do you mean to break your word—your promise?"
"It is within the hour that I have learned what the truth is."
"God damn my soul!" I heard him curse, growling.
"Yes, my lord," she answered, "God will damn your soul in so far as it is that of a brute and not that of a gentleman or a statesman."
I heard him drop into a chair. "This from one of your sort!" he half whimpered.
"Stop, now!" she cried. "Not one word more of that! I say within the hour I have learned what is the truth. I am Helena von Ritz, thief on the cross, and at last clean!"
"God A'might, Madam! How pious!" he sneered. "Something's behind all this. I know your record. What woman of the court of Austria or France comes out with morals? We used you here because you had none. And now, when it comes to the settlement between you and me, you talk like a nun. As though a trifle from virtue such as yours would be missed!"