"There was a reason which it is not necessary for me to explain."
"Ah, I know the reason. I see through your little game now. You were using me as a tool, that was all. But, damn you, I'll get even with you. That little matter can soon be attended to, and then you'll find out your mistake."
Nell's face was very white and strained, and with difficulty she kept her outward calmness. Had she but realised that eyes glowing with hatred and jealousy were watching her from the bushes a short distance away, she would have broken down completely.
"I believe you are capable of doing almost anything, Ben," she replied, "and accordingly any injury you might do to us and our little home will be no surprise. I am going back to the house now. It is no use for us to talk any longer."
Nell moved away from the trees, hoping that Ben would go back the way he had come. But she was not to get clear of him so easily. He stepped quickly to her side, and demanded what she meant by the words she had just uttered.
"Surely you must know," she told him. "If I had the least spark of affection for you, which I did not have, it would have been quenched by your action at the dance in the hall, and what you did last night."
"Last night! What did I do last night?"
"You know as well as I do, and I think a great deal better. One who will hound on others to attack a lone man on a dark night is not worthy to be called a man, but should be listed with the brutes of the jungle."
An oath leaped from Ben's lips and he gripped Nell by the arm.
"Who told you that?" he growled. "How dare you make such a charge?"