“You are speaking the truth, Miss Ruth?”
She drew away her hand without answering.
“But you? Perhaps you have been helping her?”
“I have even less than Gloria.”
His amazing lack of finesse—his appalling vulgarity stunned her into making a reply.
“There is a train in the morning—”
“There is one this afternoon that you can catch if you will hurry. I advise you to take it.”
“Thank you, I will—you have saved me a great deal of annoyance. I am grateful—if—”
But Ruth did not wait for the end of his remarks. She could not bear to look at him for another second. He was even worse than she had supposed. Evidently he had not cared for Gloria at all, and she had always conceded to him that much—that Gloria had touched some one small bit of fineness in his sordid nature.
She dared not return to Gloria just then, for she knew that Gloria in her usual frank manner had doubtless told Angela of her changed plans; even now Angela might be protesting with her and urging her not to dispose of a real title so carelessly. Even without the title Angela would not approve of the broken engagement, for it had been announced in her house; therefore, she had, in a way, been sponsor for it, and would want to see it go through to a successful conclusion.