"He didn't suspect you, then?" I asked anxiously.
"Suspect? No, he was too busy with his own machinations for that. Chester, if you had been there, I think you would have killed him! And I acted—how I acted! I got more and more in a rage, and I led him on with every bit of cunning I had till I had found out his worst. Oh, it was vile!"
I tried to hide my own rising fury. "What happened?" I demanded.
"Oh, I can't tell you! Let me try to forget it! He did everything that we have suspected, and more! I let him borrow money of me—I permitted his familiarities and his vulgarity as long as I could endure it—I listened to all his schemes. Why, Chester, d'you know, he is trying to destroy me, and make her take my place permanently? He hasn't a scruple! He's after my money, and, worst of all, after me! It's incredible. Oh, if you can't outwit him, I'm lost!"
"There's only one sure way, now, to foil him, Joy. You must marry me this afternoon!"
"I thought of that, too," she said, "and I think I'm ready. This forenoon has opened my eyes to the danger. If you say so, we'll go over to the Harbor. Oh, Chester, can you really marry such a mutilated, enslaved person as I am?"
"I am going to free you," I said, still holding her close.
"And Edna—" she broke away to look at me fearfully. "What will you do with Edna?"
"To-morrow there will, I hope, no longer be such a person."
"Then shan't we wait till to-morrow?"