“Go now,” she said, almost in a whisper, “and wait for me—to-night.”
“I will.” As he spoke he turned and walked on up the beach. She sighed as her eyes followed his free, powerful movements and noticed his easy, graceful figure and broad shoulders; then she turned to meet Dick.
“That was that Blake, the life-guard,” Dick spluttered, his sallow face whiter than ever now with anger. “You must think I’m a damned fool to stand for a thing like this!”
“I think that you are forgetting, Dick, that you are not speaking to one of your chorus-girl friends.”
“Do you? Well, let me tell you something; even one of what you are pleased to call my chorus-girl friends would have the decency to play the game straight while she played it at all. There’s another name for a woman who takes one man’s money and when his back is turned lets another fellow——”
“You would be wise to stop right there!” She sprang up and faced him, white with rage, and with a look that, angry as he was, he dared not face. “I have taken your money; yes, this is not the first time you have chosen to remind me of it, but it is the very last. You won’t have another chance! I won’t take another dollar from you until we are married; after that, if you ever dare to repeat a thing like that, I will leave you! Now you go, get that divorce you talk so much about before you let me see your face again, and get it soon, if you expect me to wait for you!”
“Lola, forgive me. I—I was wrong, but I am worried sick, or I wouldn’t have made such a fool of myself! Don’t be hard, Lola; I’ve troubles enough without that. I—I’m in a devil of a mess.”
“What mess?” she questioned quickly. “More trouble with your father?”
“Yes, another letter. He’s sore because I’ve been away from New York so long, neglecting my business, he says, and spending too much money. He will come around all right; he always does, but to tell you the truth he refused to send me the check I asked for.”
“He never did that before, did he?”