“What do you wish? Shall I treat you as my bride-to-be, or shall we go on as we are now?”

“Go on as we are now!”

“You know I am free now—and it cost me, too, to be free.”

“How much?”

“Seventy thousand dollars.”

“That’s not much.”

“It’s practically all I have.”

“Well, Alicia won’t have such a large income out of it.”

“And I paid it for you.”

Becky opened her eyes. Her face became a bonfire of rage. Her red hair bristled like a wild animal’s.