But David did not hear her. His attention was all pointed at Lillian Drew. "This is the way you've kept it, is it!" he said.
"She's the only one I've told," she returned uneasily.
Her effrontery began to flow back upon her. "She's only one more you've got to square things with. Come, give me a little coin and I'll get out, and give you a chance to settle with her."
"You've had your last cent!" he said harshly.
"Oh, no, I haven't. I don't leave till you come up with the dough!" She sat down, and looked defiantly at him.
Kate moved slowly, tensely, across to David, gripped his arms and turned her white, strained face upon his.
"So—you never took that Mission money!" Her voice was an awed, despairing whisper.
Her tone, her fierce grip, her white face, sent through him a sickening shiver of partial understanding. "I'm sorry—but you know the truth."
She gazed wide-eyed at him; then her voice, still hardly more than a whisper, broke out wildly: "Yes—yes—you took it, David! Say that you took it!"
He was silent for a moment. "If I said so—would you believe me?" he asked.