She had come to an impasse already. She tried another turn. “And you said you cared for me! Yet you are willing to make me unhappy for the rest of my life.”
“Why, no! I’m willing to make you happy. There’s fish in the sea just as good as any that ever were caught,” he smirked.
“But it would help you to free him. Don’t you see? It’s your chance. You can begin again, now. You can make him your friend.”
His eyes were hard and grim. “I don’t want him for a friend, and you’re dead wrong if you think I could make this a lever to square myself with the law. I couldn’t. He wouldn’t let me, for one thing—he isn’t that kind.”
“And you said you cared for me!” she repeated helplessly, wringing her hands in her despair. “But at the first chance you fail me.”
“Can’t you see it isn’t a personal matter? I’ve 297 got nothing against him—nothing to speak of. I’d give him to you, if I could. But it’s not my say-so. The thing is out of my hands.”
“You could save him, if you set yourself to.”
“Sure, I could—if I would pay the price. But I won’t pay.”
“That’s it. You would have to give Rosario something—make some concession,” she said eagerly.
“And I’m not willing to pay the price,” he told her. “His life’s forfeit. Hasn’t he been hunting us for a week?”