'I asked you, and you answered me that he was an earl.'
'I did no such thing. You misunderstood me. You asked me whether he had any right to the title of Earl of Schofield, and I answered—I recall exactly my words—that he was perfectly justified in calling himself Earle Schofield. That is his name. Whether he has any right to call himself Beaple Yeo, and to claim to be a colonel, is another matter on which I entertain grave doubts; but I have none whatever that his surname is Schofield, and that his Christian name is Earle.'
Artemisia did not speak for a minute, she was very angry and ashamed. When she had in some measure recovered her self-possession, she said bitterly: 'You might have been more explicit.'
'I refused to say much about the man. I had my reasons. Moreover, I had no idea that the matter was one of importance to you.'
'I have sold myself to him. I have married him this day, and only now have discovered that I have been basely imposed upon.'
'It is I—I who have been taken in,' shouted Yeo, coming forward, pushing to the table, regardless of the shrinking fear that appeared in the faces of Salome and Janet. 'It is I,' he repeated, 'I that have been deceived. I was led to believe you were a wealthy American, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars—and—and I want to know where is the money? You are an adventuress.'
'And you are an adventurer,' laughed Artemisia. 'Perhaps we have taken each other in, and we are both fools to have been so easily deceived. Who told you I was a rich American heiress?'
'The waiter at the Imperial.'
'And he told me you were a rich milord.'
'I want to know what you really are,' said Yeo, who was also very angry—angry and disappointed. 'I have a right to know who or what manner of person I have married.'