Her face went suddenly ashen. He stood before her grimly triumphant, enjoying his sense of mastery and deliberately prolonging her suspense.
"Well, I told him before them all that I intended to give him something in return, and I did. I—gave—him—YOU."
She stared at him uncomprehendingly.
He nodded. "I said he'd had you from the first and that now I'd give you to him."
She gave an unintelligible cry, standing now, as if petrified. He went on:
"I knew all the time that I was in the way, but my work is done at last, so I'll step out. But—you both got more than you bargained for, didn't you?"
"God! You didn't tell him that? You didn't say THAT—before those men! Oh-h!" She shrank back, drawing the gauzy silk robe closer about her breast. Her hands were shaking, her hair, which had fallen free when she rose, cascaded about her neck and shoulders. She let her eyes wander about the room as if to assure herself that this was not some hideous nightmare. Then she roused to sudden action. Seizing him by the shoulders she shook him roughly with far more than her natural strength, voicing furious words which neither of them understood.
"Oh, I did it," he declared. "He's yours now. You can have him. He's been your lover—"
She flung him away from her so violently that he nearly fell.
"It's a lie! You know it's a lie!"