Tired and disgusted with Lucille, she further exasperated me with her jealousy and unreasonable demands for a speedy marriage. Fearful of losing the marriage which meant so much to me, I carefully planned what seemed the only course to pursue.
Yes, it was deliberate.
Calming her anger for the day, I persuaded her to come to my apartment—these very rooms where I sit and quietly write this confession of my crime.
Unsuspecting, aye, even gladly she came—came to meet her fate, which waited for her like a spider in his entangling web for a fly.
“If you please, sir, Miss Howard’s compliments, and would you come up as soon as possible,” said a voice at the door.
The little black-and-tan paused for a moment, with the pug’s ear still between his little sharp teeth, to see where the voice came from, and Richard responded, impatiently: “Very well, say I’ll be there,” and returned to Tolman Bike’s letter.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE MYSTERY SOLVED.
The mockery of the thing amused me.
I knew so well how it was to end, and when Lucille came cheerfully to me, never thinking but that she would return to her home that night, I laughed aloud.
She wanted to talk about my promise of marriage, and I readily consented. In very few words I gave her to understand that it was impossible for me to marry her in her present condition, but if she would be guided by my judgment, and bought suitable clothing, we could then go away and be quietly married. To do this it was necessary that she remain with me.