“Oh, you do!”
“Yes. You will do as I say. You are never to communicate with her again.”
Brachey thought. “I'll say this: I'll undertake not to. If I can't endure it, I'll tell you first.”
“You can endure it.”
“But you don't understand! It's a terrible thing! Do you think I wanted to come out here? I meant not to. But I couldn't stand it. I came. Is it nothing that I told her of my marriage with the deliberate purpose of frightening her away? But she is afraid of nothing.”
“No—she is not afraid.”
“I tell you, I've been torn all to pieces. Good God, if I hadn't been, and if you weren't her father, do you think I'd have stood here to-night and let you say these things to me! Oh, you would beat me; likely enough you'd kill me; but that's nothing. That would be easy—except for Betty.”
“I have no time for heroics,” said Doane. “Have I your promise that you will leave in the morning, without a word to her?”
“Yes.”
“I am going to Hung Chan. There are more important issues now than your life or mine. I shall be back to-morrow night and shall know then if you have failed to keep your word.”