The man tried to smile indifferently, but his eyes wavered beneath her blazing glance.
"Well, what of it?" he at last questioned, assuming a defiant air; "what if it is true?"
"Is it true?" she persisted; "have you really married that girl?"
"And what if I have?" he again questioned, evasively.
"I want the truth from your own lips—yes or no, Emil Correlli."
"Well, then—yes," he said, with a flash of anger.
"You own it—you dare own it to me, and—in the presence of your child?" almost shrieked the outraged woman.
"Stop, Giulia!" commanded her companion, sternly. "I will have no scene here to create a scandal among the servants. I intended to see you within a day or two; but, since you have sought me, we may as well at once come to an understanding. Did you think that you could hold me all my life? A man in my position must have a home in which to receive his friends, also a mistress in it to entertain them—"
"Have you forgotten all your vows and promises to me?" interposed Giulia, in tremulous tones; "that you swore everlasting fidelity to me?"
"A man vows a great many things that he finds he cannot fulfill," was the unfeeling response. "Surely, Giulia, you must realize that neither your birth nor education could entitle you to such a position as my wife must occupy."