“Mrs. Burton, I want to tell you something,” he announced as unexpectedly to himself as to her.
Then, without attempting in any way to exonerate himself, Ralph Marshall told the story of his wager and the effort he had made to win Peggy’s liking, in order to gratify his own vanity.
“It is a nice sensation to find you are a cad, Mrs. Burton, and that the girl you have more respect and more liking for than any other you have ever known thinks so too. Besides, I have recently been informed of the fact by Howard Brent and, as I happened to agree with his judgment of me, I couldn’t very well argue the question with him to my own satisfaction.”
“No,” Mrs. Burton replied, “you couldn’t well argue a fact.”
She was extremely angry with Ralph herself as he told his story.
She would have been scornful in any case, but that he should have chosen Peggy as his game was a little more than her spirit could endure.
But a few moments later she was really sorry for her companion.
Ralph attempted no apology, or excused himself by extenuating circumstances.
“Oh well, Ralph, you need not look as if you had committed all the crimes in the calendar. All of us fall from grace now and then; only, if I were you, I wouldn’t chose this kind again.”
Mrs. Burton had risen from her chair.