“I did not even know the man. Never saw him in my life!” she affirmed.
He was staggered by her effrontery and scarcely knew what to say, and she went on eagerly:
“Dear uncle, please tell me the truth: You have found out at last that your wife is really Pansy Laurens, have you not?”
“Nonsense!” he answered sharply; and she opened wide her pale-blue eyes, exclaiming:
“Is it possible she can still deny it, after finding out that she was really Norman’s wife? Ah, I see it all now! She will stay with you because you are rich and her legal husband is poor.”
Colonel Falconer’s eyes flashed wrathfully.
“Beware, Juliette, how you try me too far! Remember that you are helpless and penniless, except for my bounty!”
“And because I will not cringe and fawn upon the lowbred creature you have made your wife, although, unfortunately, the tie is not a legal one, you threaten to deprive me of the pittance sufficient for my support! Very well, I can go and work in Arnell & Grey’s tobacco factory. You will not consider it a disgrace for your niece to work there, as the woman you call your wife was an employee there for many years!” she burst out spitefully, her virago temper all aflame, and goading her to such rebellion that she actually shook her little jeweled fist in his face.
She knew his good heart and generous nature so well that she believed she could defy him with impunity. He would not dare cast her helpless on the world, no matter what she did to him or the wife he idolized.
But her insults to Pansy had struck a fire of rage in his nature, and, while his face whitened with pain and his eyes gleamed with anger, he turned on her, and said sternly: