“You say she has no money? With a house on Gramercy Park, she is poor?”
Behind his words and his nonchalant air Ruth caught the uneasiness in his small eyes and knew that she had struck the right note.
“It is true that she has a house on Gramercy Square, but it takes her entire income to pay the taxes. She got the house from her second husband; the third was more careful. He only gave her a small income, which, of course, she loses when she remarries.”
For a moment he stared at her incredulous, but there was nothing but honesty in her face.
“It is the truth, you are speaking? Come, let us sit and talk—here a cigarette? No? You do not smoke? I had forgotten. We have not been such friends as I might have desired. Now explain—Miss Mayfield wishes to break her engagement with me?”
“She has broken it,” said Ruth tersely.
“It is, you can understand, a shock of the greatest—I loved—but no matter—tell me again of the affairs financial of Miss Mayfield. As a friend only—I am resigned—as a friend only I am interested.”
She looked at him, his heavy body, his fat face, his oily brown eyes, and was tempted to tell him the truth of what she thought. He laid one fat hand on hers with a familiar gesture and involuntarily she drew back as if something unclean had touched her. He saw but pretended not to see. He had an object to achieve and could not afford to be sensitive. She understood and thought it all out before she spoke. If she followed her impulse he would cause trouble, or annoyance to Gloria at the least. If she told him the truth he would believe her and would go away without further urging. Evidently he had thought that Gloria had money, and Gloria, to whom money meant nothing, had never thought to tell him anything of her affairs. It was a repulsive task but Ruth decided to give him the information he wanted.
“You must understand,” she said, “that Gloria is merely a professional woman, an actress, not an heiress. She has no money except what she earns. One of her husbands gave her the house on Gramercy Park. A year later she married again and when she was divorced from her last husband he settled on her a small income—hardly sufficient to keep up the house when she is not working. If she marries again she loses even that.”
She rose to leave him, having finished with her mission, but he caught her hand.