“And if it is?”
“I will never live to bear the exposure,” she said, in the hoarse, low voice of one desperate.
“My dear girl,” he exclaimed, “you who have beauty and a plausible tongue have the world before you; yet you always refuse to seize your opportunity. You who possess the power of the King of Evil, whose touch is deadly and whose caress is venomous, could rule an empire if you wished; yet you are inert, lethargic, and refuse to assist us, even in this.”
“I will not sin deeper than I have already sinned,” she answered. “I will have no hand in it.”
“Why not?”
“It is horrible!” she protested. “And I tell you, once and for all, that I will have nothing to do with the affair.”
“You’re a fool!” he cried roughly.
“True! I am, or I would never have fallen thus into the trap you and your friends baited so cunningly.”
“You are beautiful!” he answered, with a harsh laugh. “A beautiful woman is always a safe trap for fools.”
“If men admire me I cannot help it; if they love me then it is against my wish, for since that day long ago, when the Spirit of Evil entered into me, love has known no place in my heart.”