“But you said we were——”
“I kind o’ got it mixed. I meant that you should go home. See here, I’ve got enough dollars to get you back to England—and it’s about time.”
She put down her knife and fork, and he saw 241 a queer light gathering in her eyes. He had expected a look of joy and triumph, but it wasn’t that.
“Listen,” she said. “A year and a half ago you made a business deal. You bought me, with my own consent, for fifty thousand pounds——”
“Cut that out,” he muttered. “I ain’t sticking to that—now.”
“But I am.”
“Eh!”
“That night when I escaped from you, by a mean trick, I was glad enough—in a way. But out there, in that cruel wilderness, I came to see that a business transaction, properly conducted, is a sacred affair. When one buys a thing, it belongs to one until someone else can pay the price. That’s the position, isn’t it?”
“Nope. I can give away my property if I wish.”
“Not in this case.”