"But you wouldn't!" he said quietly. "Luckily, I understand you!" He shook his head. "Acting—always acting!"
"No!"
"Yes—acting with yourself, dramatizing a situation. But that's all! Just another precipice! Dangerous for you, but fatal to me if I were to believe you!"
"Oh, I swear to you that isn't so!" she cried, with a gesture that he appreciated, even at the moment, for its dramatic verity.
"Come!" he said quietly. "Let's be good comrades. Don't dabble with fire!"
"You think, when you leave, you will never see me again!" she said swiftly, surprising him by the penetration of her intuition. She went to him, fastening her fingers about him like the tendrils of clinging ivy. "Well, Your Honor, I will never let you go! Remember that! If you don't come, I will go and get you! You have caught me, and you can never get rid of me. I swear it!"
She sprang away quickly, affecting nonchalance. The door opened and Snyder came in, stopping short at the sight of the two figures, indistinct in the twilight.
"Come in, come in, Snyder!" Doré said hastily. "My friend, Judge Massingale."
Snyder gave him her hand abruptly, with a quick antagonistic movement, watching his embarrassed face keenly.
"Just came up to get my coat," said Doré glibly. "Going out for dinner!"