“Why not?” She avoided his gaze.
“You know very well,” he answered.
“But if I ask you as a great favor—”
“I should still refuse,” he said, wearily.
“You are very rude.”
“And you are very cruel,” he returned, monotonously.
“But not so cruel as you,—to arouse a woman’s curiosity, and then to refuse, absolutely, to gratify it!”
“Oh, so it is merely curiosity?” His voice trembled slightly.
She hesitated; her foot was tapping on the ground nervously. Then, as if she had weighed the consequences, she said: “Of course, merely curiosity.”
“Then you lied this afternoon, and you are only a coquette? I might have known it!” He spoke with difficulty for his teeth were clinched tightly.