[276]
] White and terrified, she subsided. Words rushed to her lips, clung there.
He crashed on.
“But you did put it over! Had me going so that I’d have staked my life on you. Got me with the baby stare stuff. ‘Baby’—huh! It’s a lesson—I won’t be such a damn fool next time!”
“Jimmie,” the voice struggled to keep steady—“I swear to you—!”
“I wouldn’t believe you on a stack of Bibles! Down on your luck—thought you had an easy mark! Then something better—pearls!—came along—”
“I—I’ll never forgive—you!”
“That’s right! Injured innocence—”
“I—I could die this minute!”
“It’s tough, though, when the first time a man really—cares—more than he ever thought—” The words halted painfully.
“Oh, won’t you listen? Jimmie—you—you had so much—”