She was the same girl that had defied Leonie Cuyler in the library at the time she was discovered to be a thief!
"Do I not know that you would have protected me?" she asked coldly. "No, I do not! You came here and have offered to assist me, because you did not wish your name brought in the scandal that you felt was about to be connected with me, and now you wish to pose as a saintly and martyred man who rescued the daughter of a convict but to have the serpent sting you. You think that I should fall down and bless you for what you have done for me? Let me tell you how I appreciate it. From my earliest remembrance my only feeling for you was one of fear. I would have applied to any stranger for assistance sooner than to you. You let me know in a thousand ways that upon my conduct alone depended my chance of remaining in the position in which you had placed me. You had shown me the luxury of money, you had me educated to the belief that life was not worth the living without it. You gave me no means by which I could earn my own support and I knew that expulsion from your door meant starvation or service in some one's kitchen. It was theft to close the mouth of my father or death to me! I chose the easier. You ask if what I have told you is the truth? Well, then, no! I am the daughter of an ex-convict. Worse than that, my mother died in the Tombs, convicted of theft! I did steal your money, and Leonie Cuyler saw me do it. While there I told her the story of her birth and of mine to force her to keep my secret. That was a great mistake on my part. I should have found another way. Now what are you going to do? If you pose as a martyr I shall tell my story to the world of the tyrant that you are in your family, where even your own wife sits in fear and trembling. You have but one virtue to commend you, and that is half a vice—honesty, and even that you carry no further than the negative will cover. You are not dishonest so far as money goes. You would have protected me? Where was that poor woman, your brother's wife, whom you let starve with her little child, because she had married your brother against your august will? Do you want that story published to the world? I was only waiting for matters to come to a head before forcing you to my way of thinking in these things.
"Now listen to me. If you refuse to do what you can for me in this, I shall tell these things of which I have spoken to the world; I shall give them the true history of the unfortunate cashier who robbed the bank in Rochester, driven to it through your cruelty; I shall tell them the story of Lillieth Dalworth, your niece, whom you drove to suicide. I do not ask anything of you after my release from here, but I demand that. You have the money to buy it, if you will. I have no crime to answer for that is not bailable. You understand what I mean. Do that, and you will never hear of me again!"
She paused, looking at him defiantly.
He had remained very quiet during her long harangue, and when she had finished, he bowed courteously.
"I will do what I can for you," he said, coldly.
A scornful smile curled her mouth.
She felt that she might have mastered him long, if she had only had the courage, and she took the chair that she had vacated with a smile that was complacent, while she made no attempt to veil its sneer.
"Is there anything else that you would like to say?" he asked, quietly. "Is there no message that you would like to send to the woman who was a mother to you, and against whom there is no charge that you can bring?"
"I will take care of that!" said Miss Chandler, airily.