He seized her arm and pulled her into the sitting-room. The daughter rose and faced them, reproof and astonishment mingling in her expression.
“This thing is going to be settled here and now,” said the lover, roughly. “There is going to be no more fooling. Has your mother put this matter up to you so that you understand it, Kate?”
“She has told me that she owes you five thousand dollars,” returned the girl. Her eyes flashed her contempt. “You told me that yourself. I repeated the statement to her and she admits it.”
“But did she tell you how it happens that she owes me that money?”
“For God's sake, Richard, have some pity! This is my own daughter. I will sell everything. I will slave. I will pay you. Kate, for my sake—for your own sake, tell him that you will marry him.”
“I will not marry this man,” declared the girl. “It has been a mistake from the beginning. As to your business with him, mother, that is not my affair. You must settle it.”
“You belong in the settlement,” declared Dodd. “Hold on! Don't leave this room, Kate.”
He reached out his hands to intercept her, and Mrs. Kilgour, released, fell upon the floor and began to grovel and cry entreaties.
But his raucous tones overrode her appeals.
“We're all together in this. I am five thousand dollars shy in the state treasury, Kate. I took that money and loaned it to your mother when she begged me to save her stocks. But she didn't have any stocks.”