“What—do—you—mean?” she whispered fearfully.
He told her.
“That case you spoke of——?”
“He beat me—fairly—and he beat me badly, so badly that I can’t afford to have him against me. I’ve taken him into the business. I can’t afford to be without him.”
“Then—what you said about him——”
“I was fooled, child, completely fooled. We thought he was a joke. We laughed at him and all the while he was out West working, quietly, skillfully, diligently piling up his evidence. He’s made good, Jane, and I’ve told him so. I’ve written him a note to-night, a note of apology for my share in his unhappiness, telling him that I was sorry for what had happened and telling him that he would be a welcome visitor to my house——”
“Daddy!” Jane had straightened and now glanced fearfully toward the door as though she expected to see Phil Gallatin at any moment coming through the curtains. “You had no right to do that! I will not see him. Whatever his business relations with you, you have no right to force him on me. I have known for a long time that he was clever, that he could make his way in the world if he wanted to, but your acceptance of him changes nothing with me.”
“But you love him,” he persisted.
“No, no,” she protested. “I could never love a man who had once been faithless—never forgive him—never even in death. That a man is successful in the world is all you men care about. Oh, I know you. Because he’s matched his brain against yours and beaten you, you think he’s a demigod; but that doesn’t change the heart in him, the lips that swear love eternal while they’re kissing another——”
“Lies!” broke in Loring with a wave of his hand. “I don’t believe that story.”