"Dodo, dear, I know! Believe me, I know!"
"But to-morrow?"
"No, now! Come! I'll take all responsibility!"
Abruptly, stridently, the telephone rang, and with it the booming notes of seven o'clock.
She gave a cry, frantic, remembering Massingale.
"No, no! Never! Not to-night! I will not!"
He stepped between her and the still ringing telephone.
"You shan't answer! You shall come with me!"
"No! For your sake, Garry, for your sake, I tell you!" she cried, her extended hands shaking with the intensity of her pleading. Massingale and the self she could not trust terrified her. No; she could never come to him with this fear of what another man had awakened in her veins. The telephone ceased. She had torn off her coat. He came quietly to her, unflinching in his resolve.
"Dodo, did you understand me, dear?" he said gently. "I will take all responsibilities!"