‘You said just now that you have gone through worse things than the shame of being thought unmarried. Tell me about it all.’
‘Not I, indeed. When I was willing to tell you everything, you didn’t care to hear it. It’s too late now.’
‘It’s not too late, happily, to drag you out of this wretched slough into which you are sinking. Whatever the cost, that shall be done!’
‘Thank you, I am not disposed to let any one drag me anywhere. I want no help; and if I did, you would be the last person I should accept it from. I don’t know why you came here after the agreement we made the other night.’
Tarrant stepped towards her.
‘I came to find out whether you were telling lies about me, and I should never have thought it possible but for my bad conscience. I know you had every excuse for being embittered and for acting revengefully. It seems you have only told lies about yourself. As, after all, you are my wife, I shan’t allow that.’
Once more she turned upon him passionately.
‘I am not your wife! You married me against your will, and shook me off as soon as possible. I won’t be bound to you; I shall act as a free woman.’
‘Bound to me you are, and shall be—as I to you.’
‘You may say it fifty times, and it will mean nothing.—How bound to you? Bound to share my money?’