“Because she loved me.”
“Well, then, tell me what passed between you for a woman of this stamp to sacrifice herself for a man she first intended to dupe, and afterwards to rob. For you cannot doubt the fact that she had plans concerning you?”
“I am quite aware of the fact.”
“She had had considerable experience in life, and yet—”
“And yet she fell in love with a young man like myself. Well, probably because I was a change from all her other acquaintances. A cup of milk to a drunken man, for instance.”
“And she killed herself for your sake, under your very eyes?”
“Yes, Uncle Graff, because I would not promise to see her again.”
“And yet you loved her?”
“I both loved and hated her. Had I seen her again she would have obtained renewed dominion over me and ruined me. I determined it should not be so.”
Uncle Graff sighed—