At that she bounced upright on the bed, and before he could rise she caught him by both shoulders.
"I want Donnegan," she said fiercely.
"What?"
"I want him dead!"
Joe Rix gasped.
"Here's the cause of all my trouble. Just because I flirted with him once or twice, Nick thought I was in earnest and now he's sulking. And Donnegan puts on airs and acts as if I belonged to him. I hate him, Joe. And if he's gone Nick will come back to me. He'll come back to me, Joe; and I want him so!"
She found that Joe Rix was staring straight into her eyes, striving to probe her soul to its depths, and by a great effort she was enabled to meet that gaze. Finally the fat little man rose slowly to his feet. Her hands trailed from his shoulders as he stood up and fell helplessly upon her lap.
"Well, I'll be hanged, Nell!" exclaimed Joe Rix.
"What do you mean?"
"You're not acting a part? No, I can see you mean it. But what a cold-blooded little—" He checked himself. His face was suddenly jubilant. "Then we've got him, Nell. We've got him if you're with us. We had him anyway, but we'll make sure of him if you're with us. Look at this! You saw me put a paper in my pocket when I opened the door of my room? Here it is!"