"The less you say on that subject the better! Do not forget that you persuaded an innocent schoolgirl into a secret marriage, that she was bound to repent when she came to her sober senses," she cried bitterly. "But there, it is too late now for recriminations. I hoped you were dead, but, since you are not, I wish only to be rid of you!"
"You can buy my silence!" replied Carlos Cisneros, so calmly that she congratulated herself, thinking:
"He is not going to be dangerous, after all."
Aloud, she said:
"I will arrange to send you a monthly allowance of fifty dollars, the best I can do for you! Will that satisfy your greed?"
"It is very little, but I will accept it," he replied sullenly.
"Very well; now leave me, if you can do so without attracting the driver's attention. I shall be leaving the carriage at the next corner," she said, and he obeyed her, springing lightly to the ground, and disappearing.
"He was not very violent, thank goodness!" sighed Roma, believing that as long as she paid him he would not betray her dangerous secrets; but bitterly chagrined that he was not dead, as she had believed so long.
"Perhaps I can compass that later!" she thought darkly, as she gave the order to the driver for Commonwealth Avenue.
She had determined to call on Lyde Carrington, with whom she had a society acquaintance, in the hope of seeing Jesse Devereaux again.