The driver, with his red face, looked inquiringly at his fare before obeying.
"Really, Richard, I alone have the control of this cab, and of my future proceedings--as you have control of yours."
"What rot! If you are thinking about the American heiress, she may go to the deuce for all I care. But you--you must come back. You must! you shall!"
He grasped with both hands the hem of her skirt as if he would drag her out of the cab by her clothes.
"I beg you to come back.... I can't sleep, I can't work.... I have got so used to you.... If it had come off, I should have joined you again directly the wedding was over. And everything in your rooms is as you left it that you have seen for yourself. Peterle won't eat, Adele says, and Adele is moped. She says she simply can't exist without you. I'll give you twenty thousand--no, thirty thousand--marks a year for life. Mother won't mind.... She understands ... for, you know, I've given up the idea of marrying for good; that need never worry you again.... And you may come to the office when you like.... And you shall have the carriage instead of a hired one. I'll have the telephone put on between your flat and the stable. Or perhaps you'd prefer a motor-car? If so, you shall have one, ten thousand times better than this."
He had played his trump-card. What dreams of earthly grandeur could exceed a motor-car? He paused and, kneeling on the step, stared hard into her face to see the effect of his speech.
She saw clearly that she would never be free of him unless she told him the truth. She was sorry for him, but it was her duty.
"Look here, Richard. All that you offer me is no good to me now, for I love another man who can give me far more than you can--far, far more!"
"What! What! You've caught a young Vanderbilt?" he exclaimed in jealous rage. "Well, I must say I never suspected that side to your character."
"No, dear Richard; it's not a young Vanderbilt. On the contrary, he is so poor that he lives from hand to mouth. But, all the same, he and I are engaged, and as his future wife I must ask you to leave me free to do as I like."