His laugh was low and sneering. He had evidently been making enquiries concerning the Liu family, and also watching me for some time. How a woman can loathe and hate the man she has once loved!
We were nearing my lodgings. Perhaps the child had awakened and was crying for me. I would not, however, have entered the house, had he not stopped at the door and pushed it open.
“Lead the way upstairs!” said he. “I want to see the kid.”
“You shall not,” I cried. In my desperation I wrenched myself from his grasp and faced him, blocking the stairs.
“If you use violence,” I declared, “the lodgers will come to my assistance. They know me!”
He released my arm.
“Bah!” said he. “I’ve no use for the kid. It is you I’m after getting reconciled to. Don’t you know, Minnie, that once your husband, always your husband? Since I saw you the other day on the street, I have been more in love with you than ever before. Suppose we forget all and begin over again!”
Though the tone of his voice had softened, my fear of him grew greater. I would have fled up the stairs had he not again laid his hand on my arm.
“Answer me, girl,” said he.
And in spite of my fear, I shook off his hand and answered him: “No husband of mine are you, either legally or morally. And I have no feeling whatever for you other than contempt.”