Not a line of the man’s expression changed.
“Tell me truly why you went,” he demanded, striding up to the bed again, and looking into her face with a threatening scowl.
“Tell me!” he repeated, and seizing her wrist in his strong palm he twisted it roughly.
“I have told you already!” she replied, and set her teeth to hold back an exclamation of pain.
“I’ll have the truth if I murder you!” he said, bending her arm until the pain brought unwilling tears to her eyes.
Still she was silent, and her lips closed firmly, whereupon the tiger in the man conquered his self-control, and in a sudden gust of rage he seized her by the throat, and as he tightened his grip upon it, hissed:
“Then listen and I’ll tell you! You spied on me, you she-devil! Whether you’d any other motive than curiosity I don’t know, but you’ve got to tell me everything or I’ll choke the life out of you. Now speak!”
He widened his fingers, but still kept them on her throat, and she never raised her hands in what must have been a vain effort to free herself, but kept them tightly clasped on her breast.
“Do your worst!” she said hoarsely. “Brute and coward! Kill me, if you like, and hang for me! Do you think it’s any catch to live tied to a man like you? I wouldn’t say a word to save you from hell!”
Strangely, her boldness sobered him, and he threw her head back on the pillow with a movement that was almost a blow, and walked over to the window. In less than a minute he turned and spoke from that position.