XXIX
ELSIE WARNS CURTIS
Brisbane was early awake, abrupt and harsh in command. "Come! we must get out o' here," he said. "I don't want to be under the slightest obligation to this young crank. I intend to break him."
She flamed into wrath—a white radiance. "When you break him you break me," she said.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean I've changed my mind. I think he's right and you are wrong."
The entrance of the sheriff prevented a full accounting at the moment, but it was merely deferred. Once in the carriage, Brisbane began to discredit her lover. "Don't tell me Curtis is disinterested; he is scheming for some fat job. His altruistic plea is too thin."
"You are ill-fitted to understand the motives of a man like Captain Curtis," Elsie replied, and every word cut. "What have you—or I—ever done that was not selfish?"
"I've given a thousand dollars to charity for every cent of his."
"Yes, and that's the spirit in which you gave—never to help, only to exalt yourself, just as I have done. Captain Curtis is giving himself. He and his sister have made me see myself as I am, and I am not happy over it. But I wish you would not talk to me any more about them; they are my friends, and I will not listen to your abuse of them."