She started for the door. “There are honest men in this village—I’m going to call them!”
But I got to the door ahead of her.
“There’s another time coming—a better time for an explanation—and you’ll be the sorriest girl in the world.”
“I can never be as sorry as I am now—sorry and ashamed! To think that I ever put confidence in a creature by the name of Sidney!”
What a glorious home-coming for the paragon of selfsacrifice!
I walked around the square half a dozen times before I dared to go into the tavern. I don’t know how I ever got through that interview with Dodovah Vose without betraying my state of mind, but I managed it and excused my peculiarity by saying that I was all worn out by my trip. And he had too much on his own mind in a few minutes to pay special attention to me, for I handed him one thousand dollars and went up to my room without bothering to contradict his excited guessings that the judge and I had cleaned up a fortune. Kingsley, I reflected, might as well have the benefit of the guessing. And, it must be known, hope was not dead in me in spite of my agony.
Something else was very much alive in me. Blackleg, eh? Flashy rogue! Barker for gamblers!
I took off that plug-hat, held it in both hands, and put my foot through the crown; then I kicked it all around the room. I stripped off that frock-coat, grabbed the tails and ripped it into two parts.
Then I went to the closet and surveyed that ready-made suit and the billycock hat with content.
In the morning I would be Ross Sidney, professional diver, ready to go back on the job if there was any such thing as a job for me in all the world. I hoped I would be sane once more when I opened my eyes on a new day. I yanked that fancy waistcoat into ribbons, threw the pearl-gray trousers under the bed, and hurried to go to sleep so that I would not become completely crazy before I could forget my troubles.