“A right,” she answered him, “that requires no permission from you.”
“You don’t deny it, then?”
“I don’t deny it.”
“And you’re not ashamed of it?”
“I’m not ashamed of it. I glory in it.”
He had not risen with her, but he pulled himself, now, unsteadily to his feet.
“I’ve got only one answer to make to that,” he said. “You fondle that black-coated, white-livered priest just once more, and I’ll send the souls of both of you straight to hell.”
“Steve, you coward, what do you mean?”
“Mean? I mean what I say. I’ll have what belongs to me or I’ll kill the man that robs me, and the woman that lets him. He had his kisses last Friday. I haven’t had mine yet. But I’m going to have ’em—to-night.”
He started toward her, staggering as he went. She backed away from him and tried to reach the door, but he blocked her path.