“Bah! women can always make excuses,” he laughed. “I should not have made this appointment if it were not imperative that we should meet.”
“Well?” she sighed. “What do you want of me now?”
“I want to talk to you seriously.”
“With the usual request to follow,” she observed wearily. “You want money—eh?”
“Money? Oh no,” he said, with bitter sarcasm. “I can do without it. I can live on air, you know.”
“That’s better than prison fare, I should have thought,” she answered grimly.
“Ah, now, my dear, you’re sarcastic,” he said, with a touch of irony. “That doesn’t become you.”
“Well, tell me quickly what you want, and let me get back, or they will miss me.”
“You mean that your young lover will want to know with whom you’ve been flirting, eh? Well, you can mislead him again, as you’ve done many times before. What a fine thing it is to be an accomplished liar. I always envy people who can lie well, for they get through life so easily.” He spoke in a familiar tone, as though he held her beneath an influence that was irresistible.
“I am no liar,” she protested quickly. “The lies I have been compelled to tell have been at your own instigation.”