“I do not love you.”
In the instant of reply, Dick Gilder, by some inspiration of love, changed his attitude. “Just the same,” he said cheerfully, “you are my wife, and I'm going to keep you and make you love me.”
Mary felt a thrill of fear through her very soul.
“You can't!” she cried harshly. “You are his son!”
“She's a crook!” Burke said.
“I don't care a damn what you've been!” Dick exclaimed. “From now on you'll go straight. You'll walk the straightest line a woman ever walked. You'll put all thoughts of vengeance out of your heart, because I'll fill it with something bigger—I'm going to make you love me.”
Burke, with his rousing voice, spoke again:
“I tell you, she's a crook!”
Mary moved a little, and then turned her face toward Gilder.
“And, if I am, who made me one? You can't send a girl to prison, and have her come out anything else.”