There was no attempt on the part of either to reply. Silently the host threw open the door of his well-equipped library, which under other circumstances Mrs. Dunlap would have found pleasure in exploring, and silently motioned her to a seat. While she sank among the cushions of a luxurious chair, he carefully closed the door; then, crossing to the doors leading to the music room, he closed them also. He seated himself but a few feet from her and spoke in the tone he had used when he asked her why she had presumed to interfere with him.
"Well. I am at your mercy! What do you propose to do?" That was what he said.
She looked steadily at him, but was speechless.
After waiting a moment he added: "I did not interfere with what you saw fit to do, by word or glance, although you must know that I could have done so had I seen fit. Why you have been silent thus far and have chosen to accept my wife's hospitality, I am at a loss to understand; unless it is in the interests of a still greater sensation. Is it your intention to tell me how you mean to proceed in the blasting of my home, or do you still prefer to work in the dark?"
The man was actually arraigning her! Or was this merely a game of bluff? What kind of woman did he take her to be! The indignant blood surged in her veins; she got out of the comfortable chair and took an uncompromising straight-backed one directly opposite his.
"Are you so accustomed to 'working in the dark' that you fancy others are doing it also?" she said, fixing him with her clear gaze. "Did you suppose that I had the slightest idea of meeting you when I came to this house and accepted its hospitality?"
His face changed suddenly and he bent forward as if to lessen the distance between them, speaking eagerly.
"Have I been mistaken in you? Mrs. Dunlap, on your honor as a woman, did you not find out my name somewhere and follow me, to this house with my discomfiture in view?"
"I certainly did not!" she answered indignantly. "Do you think I would have slept under your roof knowingly? I have not yet awakened from the daze of horror into which the sight of you threw me."
"Then I beg your pardon," he said with evident relief. "I have wronged you. Now I will literally and gratefully, if you will permit the word, throw myself on your mercy. You see what my home is, and my family I have children. You have been given some idea of what they think of me, and what I am in the main; an attentive husband and father, doing his utmost for the comfort of his home. You happen to have seen me under damning conditions, and without understanding the—the temptations. And now you have it in your power to ruin this home and blast the future of young and trusting lives; as well as break a woman's heart! Or, you have it in your power to save us all! You are a merciful woman, a philanthropist, my wife tells me, I believe you will save us. You see I am not asking justice, but pleading for mercy."