“My disappointment is as great as yours,” he said, grimly, “but I seem able to control myself better. We are both paupers, it seems,” he went on, in the same whisper, “and we should sympathize with each other.”
“Of course,” he added, “marriage is for a second time not to be thought of in connection with you or me, but even though I will not be obliged to shield you with my name, you can yet be of use to me, and I to you, in keeping the secret of the true cause of my uncle’s death.”
Queenie was crushed, humiliated to the very earth. She made no comment. As though in a glass darkly, she was trying to outline her future. As a wealthy young widow, her place in society would have been one to be envied.
With her father a bankrupt, and the man she had married a bankrupt as well, she saw nothing before her save seeking employment for her daily bread.
Could she ever hope to win John Dinsmore then? She would belong to one world and he to another, and those words lay as far apart as heaven and earth.
Her companion, who was still clasping her arm tightly as he led her along, broke into her reverie by saying:
“Let us step into the music-room for a few words more, Queenie. I have something of importance to say to you still. Consent to aid me and I will make it worth your while; you shall have a fortune at least half as great as the one which you have just lost, if I can win what I am aiming for. Will you spare me a few moments of your time, and give me your undivided attention?”
She laughed a low, harsh laugh. “My time is not so valuable now as—well, if you have any plan to offer by which I may have the hope of retrieving my fallen fortunes, why should I not listen to your plans—and eagerly?”
“Now you are speaking very sensibly,” he rejoined, leading her into the music-room and closing the door carefully after them, to insure their not being overheard by any of the servants.
Queenie was so thoroughly in his power that he knew he need have no hesitancy in telling her his plans from beginning to end, without fear of her daring to expose him; on the contrary, he would force her to aid him in his determination to win the Dinsmore millions.