“Don’t,â€� she said; and then again, “don’t. The mere reference to it makes me see myself as I was—and, oh, it seems so long ago. Red Mike is a brute; a creature whom I have made use of to further my selfish ends. I sent him to you when he demanded the two millions, and so nearly murdered you. I took him with me to aid in your capture, making him beieve that I would lead you on to make me your wife, so that I might get your millions, and—oh, there is more!—making him believe that he might—might—if you should die suddenly after that—making him believe that I would not ask questions about it, but that I would—become—his—wife. Oh, God! The horror of it! That I ever consented to such a thought, for I did not mean it, ever. Oh, you will believe me, won’t you? I never once meant such a thing. I hate, I loathe, I despise myself; but I must tell you. You must know all of it; must know that even for a moment I consented to bargain about such a hideous matter, even though I never had the remotest intention to——â€�
“Hush!â€� Lynne said to her softly. “You never could do a more courageous thing in your life than to tell me of this. I am no better than you are, Madge. I have harbored such impossible thoughts, too. I know what they are, and what they mean. Come here. Move around so that I can see you; so I can look into your wonderful eyes. I want to kiss them. I want to hear you tell me that you will be a good and true woman, a good and true wife, and that when we leave here to return to the world, you will help me to spend that fortune that has come to me so strangely, for the good of others—for the good of those who suffer. That is what I want to do, Madge; that is what I want you to help me to do, for that is what my mother would have wished.â€�
She had raised herself from his shoulder and from the arm of the chair upon which she had been seated, and now she moved gently around until she was almost in front of him.
Her whole soul was shining in her eyes when she chanced to raise them, impelled by an impulse she could not have named; and she saw Red Mike standing near that door, with the automatic pistol raised and leveled at her own heart.
Her eyes, which had been looking down tenderly upon Lynne, shone suddenly with horror, and she released Lynne’s hand and backed away from him.
It was an utterance of Red Mike’s that told Lynne what had happened.
“Caught you, didn’t I?â€� he snarled. Then he laughed brutally. “I heard you, too, my beauty. I heard it all. I have been here since it began. I saw the beginning, and I will see the end. Used me, have you? Lied to me, have you? Played with me, have you? Well, it’s my turn now to play with you—and him; and no Apache Indian ever knew better how to do it than I do.â€�
Madge crouched partly down. All the tiger in her was aroused now, in defense of the man she had suddenly found that she loved.
Her right hand sought her bosom where, doubtless, she carried a weapon; where Red Mike seemed to understand that she did carry one, for he cried out:
“Drop that, or I’ll kill you where you stand, if you are a woman!�