"Lilas, you puzzle me," confessed Lorelei, doubtfully. "You say things that make me think you don't care for him at all; then again you seem to be crazy about him. How DO you feel? How far would you go with him?"
Lilas laughed airily. "Perhaps I'd go farther WITH him than FOR him. He asked me to marry him if his wife gets a divorce; and I agreed. Does that answer your question?"
"I—suppose it does."
"Now that he has come to the point, I'm not sorry things happened just as they did. A woman must look out for herself—no man will ever help her. It's worth some notoriety to become Mrs. Jarvis Hammon."
Something in the speaker's words rang false; but just what that something was, Lorelei could not decide.
"Then you'd like to see the story made public?" she queried.
"Naturally."
"I dare say if I loved a man I'd want him at any price, but I—hope I'm not going to be dragged into this matter."
"My dear, New York has blackmailing newspapers, just as it has blackmailing men. They live off people like Merkle. You'd be foolish to let him escape from this just to save a few dollars, for the notoriety will injure you, where it benefits me. It's not often that girls in our business know men like those two. You have a family; they can make Merkle do the right thing by you."
"I don't want him to do anything," protested Lorelei. "There's nothing to do."