“I never winked in my life,” she said indignantly.
He ignored the disclaimer, and went on calmly:
“You’ve stood a good deal more than most girls would have done—a pretty girl like you, too. He’s been a bit of a brute, hasn’t he? Upon my word, I wonder that you have stood it so long.”
She made a second frenzied attempt to struggle up from the cushions. She could see that he was slowly edging up, that the red glow on his face was more pronounced, that his eyes were nearer being expressive than they had ever been before.
“Don’t be a fool,” he said, pushing her back. “You’re not a fool; you’re a sharp girl—you know which side your bread’s buttered. Edred is going all to pieces; if he doesn’t look out he’ll find himself in the dock again—with Milligan and one or two more. But I was always prudent. I’ve made a nice little pile. I can give you every comfort.”
“I don’t know what you mean; on my word of honor I don’t,” she said beseechingly—too utterly staggered to be angry with him.
“You don’t know! You won’t, you mean. You’re bent on playing a better game. Well! there; I’ll marry you, if you like. No man can make a fairer offer than that.”
Then, at last, she jumped up—positively, tangibly afraid of him. She conceived the sudden extravagant idea that he had gone mad. She knew nothing of his antecedents, she recalled a thousand foolish things that he had done and looked and said. She firmly believed him to be subject to attacks of mania. Her eyes expressed her fear.
“Do you think I’m off my head?” he demanded bluntly. “You look as if you did.”
He rose too, his face becoming inflamed and furious.