Mrs. Neville left the room to ascertain the cause of this interruption.
As she passed out of the room, Iris opened wide her blue eyes and raised herself on her elbow, looking around her in bewilderment.
The instant her eyes fell on Broughton, who stood coolly looking down upon her, she remembered the scene through which she had lately passed, and arose to her feet as rapidly as her feeble strength would allow, disdaining the aid of his proffered hand.
The man did not wait for her to speak, but placing a chair for her, almost forced her to be seated.
“You must listen to me, my dear,” he began, in the cold, stern voice she remembered so well. “I know all about the ordeal you have just gone through, and I have taught Mrs. Neville her error. Are you not tired of the life you have been living since we parted, Iris? Are you not ready to accept the offer I made you on the occasion of our last meeting? I have not interfered with you since then, trusting that time would show you the folly of your conduct, and now I am ready to renew the offer I then made you. Will you come with me to my home?”
Iris had by this time recovered the power of speech, and she would not allow Broughton to proceed further.
“What does your offer mean for me—a life of even greater misery than I have yet endured—a life I blush to name? Dear Heaven, do you know the shame I have suffered this day, to hear myself branded as a creature unfit for honest women to notice! You say you have been a convict, and I know you are now a gambler and the associate of gamblers; yet acknowledge me as your daughter and I will be your slave. I can bear anything but——”
Broughton at this moment checked the speaker by a gesture so fierce and determined that she shrank from him in actual fear.
“Cease, girl, and never dare to mention the word convict again in my presence. What you ask of me is impossible for me to grant. Come with me to my home. Let the world say of you what it will, you will at least be secure from want. More than this I cannot do for you. Refuse the offer, and before the dawn of another day the woman who now employs you to work for her shall charge you with theft, and accuse you as a thief before the world.”
Iris had thrown herself before him in a kneeling attitude, and was clasping his knees in an agony of supplication.