Moira was leaning against the bed rail, her head bent, her eyes searching out Piquette's very soul.
"And you, Madame," said Piquette, her voice gathering scorn in its very suppression. "You, Madame, who love 'im too, you listen to everyt'ing 'is enemies say agains' 'im—you believe dese lies, you let dem try to keel 'im, you 'elp dem bring you to déshonneur. You try to keep 'im from saving you from disgrace! What kind of a woman are you, Madame, to 'ave a love like dat t'rown at your feet an' walk away an' leave it like a dead flower upon de groun'? Mus' it take a woman like me to show you what is fine and noble in de worl'? You sen' 'im away into de night. Juste ciel! Is dere no blood in your heart, Madame, no tenderness, no pity, for de love of a man like Jeem 'Orton? Love! You do not know what love is, you——"
"Stop, Madame!" gasped Moira, her lips gray and trembling under the wrist that masked her eyes. "You dare not tell me what love is. You don't know—everything."
"Yes," said Piquette quietly. "I know everyt'ing. But only God could keep me from de man I love."
"Yes, God!" whispered Moira tensely. "Only God."
The pallor of her face, the agonized clutch of her white fingers on the table and the tone of her voice silenced Piquette, and she glanced up at Moira partly in pity, partly in scorn. Piquette's education had not fitted her to understand the motives of women different from herself, but she saw in Moira's face the scars of a great passion and the marks of suffering not to be denied. And so after a painful moment for Moira, she turned her glance aside.
"I cannot speak of this to you, Madame," she heard the girl stammer. "You have no right to judge me or to question my motives. And if I've misjudged you—or Jim Horton, God knows I'm sorry for it. But you—Madame—why should you come and tell me these things?"
Moira's breath seemed suspended while she waited for the woman's answer. Piquette traced for a moment with her finger on the arm of the chair.
"You may be' sure it 'as cos' me somet'ing," she said slowly.
"Does he know—does Jim Horton know?"