"I shook my head.
"'You know where she is?'
"'She's gone clear, Sumner. You let her go.'
"'Let her go! You let her go, but I'm not going to. I'm not that sort. Here's this girl you marry and mess about with and when she comes across a man who's a bit more of a man than you are and handles her as a woman ought to be handled, you go and chuck her out and divorce her, divorce her with her child coming, and then start planning and plotting to get her away from the man she's given her love to——'
"He stopped for want of words or breath. He wanted to exasperate me and start a shouting match. I said nothing.
"'I want Hetty back,' he said. 'She's my wife and I want her back. She's mine and the sooner this foolery stops the better.'
"I sat up to the desk and put my elbows on it.
"'You won't get her back,' I said very quietly. 'What are you going to do about it?'
"'By God! I'll have her back—if I swing for it.'
"'Exactly. And what are you going to do?'