"And if I am still in love with him," she said insolently, "what then?" He looked at her admiringly, for scorn became her.
"Oh, nothing," he said with a shrug. "Only be careful, that's all. Back in Mesa City I thought of shooting Cort Bent, but I found a better way to punish him. Here"—he laughed—"I've a different plan. I'm going to give you a free foot. I'm going to throw you two together—to give you a chance to work out your salvation in your own way. Your marriage to me means nothing to you. Time has proved that. You and I are oil and water. We don't mix. We never have mixed. There isn't any reason that I can see that we're ever going to mix. We've worried along somehow, to date, but it's getting on my nerves. I'd rather we understood each other once and for all. I'm past changing. You knew what I was—a queer weed, a mongrel. I took root and I grew as Nature made me grow, in the soil I fell in, hardy, thick-ribbed, stubborn, and lawless. The world was my enemy, but I fought it as Nature taught, by putting on a rough bark and spines like the cactus that grew beside me. Oh, I grew flowers, too, pretty pale blossoms that tried to open to the sun. You had a chance to see them—but they weren't your kind. You looked beyond them at the hot-house plants——"
"Don't, Jeff," she pleaded. "I can't bear it."
But he only laughed at her.
"Well, I've brought them to you—the roses, the orchids, the carnations, and you're going to live with them, in the atmosphere you've always wanted——"
"Won't you let me speak?"
"No!" he thundered. "My mind is made up. I'm going West alone. You go your way. I go mine. Is that clear? You and Cortland Bent can meet when and where you please."
"I don't want to meet him," she whispered brokenly. "I don't want to see him again."
"I can't believe you," he sneered. "We've lived a lie since we were married. Let's tell the truth for once in our lives. When I came in this room you were asleep, but even while you slept you dreamed of him and his name was in your mouth."
The face she turned up to him was haggard, but her eyes were wide with wonder.