"I say she shan't marry you," said Dick, glaring at the other.
"Steady, steady, Dick," said Austin warningly. But Dick shook his warning angrily aside, and Austin saw that, once again that day, Dick was desperate.
"Not while I live shall she marry you. Don't I know your infernal beastly life?"
"Now, look here," said Banstead, at bay. "What the deuce have you got to do with my affairs?"
"Everything. Do you think she loves you, cares for you, honours you, respects you?"
Viviette faced him with blazing eyes.
"I do," she said defiantly.
"It's a lie," cried Dick. "It's you that are lying now. Heaven and earth! I've suffered enough to-day--I thought I had been through hell--but it's nothing to this. She loves me--do you hear me?--me--me--me--and I can't marry her--and I don't care a damn who knows the reason."
"Stop, man," said Austin.
"Let me be. She shall know the truth. Everyone shall know the truth. At any rate, it will save her from this."