“Alfred,” she said indignantly, “I could not accept shame and degradation, even from a man I love. Besides, I have no longer any love for you. You will not dare to offer me that. Every moment that you stay in my presence is an insult. I must insist on your leaving this house at once.”
“Where am I to go?” he asked, still curiously.
“That is for your consideration. You and I are apart.”
“I have no money,” he said, too much astonished, though he made no sign of it, to fight her fairly.
“You have sufficient money for your present necessities, Alfred. You must not think that you can deceive me any longer. I know everything about you.”
Suddenly an idea occurred to him, and he asked, in a manner that was almost a threat, though it had no effect upon her—
“Have you been to Liphook?”
“I shall not tell you where I have been, Alfred; I have discovered your baseness, and that is sufficient. I know that our marriage was a mockery, that you dared to offer me what you had already given to another woman. You will go back to her, and at once. You came to me solely for my money, and of that you will not have one penny piece.”
Still he stood looking at her speechlessly, while with each word she said his loathing for her increased and his anger grew more difficult to control. His lips parted and showed his teeth, white and clenched together.
“I will have the money yet; and you shall suffer,” he said.