"You have a fine bust, my girl," he continued, as though he was repeating the "points" of a horse; "a magnificent arm, a foot that beats the Medicean Venus all hollow, and limbs,—" he paused and sipped his wine, protruding his nether lip which now was scarlet red,—"such limbs! I like the expression of your eyes—there's fire in them, and your clear brown complexion, and your moist red lips, and,—" he sipped his wine again,—"altogether an elegantly built female."
And he rose and approached me. I also rose, my eyes flashing and my bosom swelling with suppressed rage.
"Wareham, I warn you not to touch me," I said in a low voice. "For three months I have been your prey. I will be so no longer. Before the world you may call me wife, if you choose—you have bought the right to do that—but I inform you, once for all, that henceforth we are strangers. Do you understand me, Wareham? I had as lief be chained to a corpse as to submit to be touched by you."
He fell back startled, his face manifesting surprise and anger, but in an instant his gaze was upon me again, and he indulged in a low burst of laughter.
"Come, I like this! It is a pleasant change from the demure, pious girl of three months ago to the full-blown tragedy queen." He sank into a chair and filled another glass of wine. "Be seated, Frank, I want to have a little talk with my pet."
I resumed my seat.
"You give yourself airs under the impression that you are my wife,—joint owner of my immense fortune,—my rich widow in perspective. Erroneous impression, Frank. I have a wife living in England."
The entirely malignant look, which accompanied these words, convinced me of their sincerity. For a moment I felt as though an awful weight had crushed my brain, and by a glance at the mirror, I saw I was frightfully pale; but recovering myself by a strong exertion of will, I answered him in these words:
"Gentlemen, who allow themselves more than one wife at a time, are sometimes (owing to an unfortunate prejudice of society) invited to occupy an apartment in the state prison."
"And so you think you hold a rod over my head?"—he drank his wine—"but I have only one wife, Frank. The gentleman, who married you and me, was neither clergyman nor officer of the law, but simply a convenient friend. Our mock marriage was not even published in the papers."