'No; what you hoped and intended was to keep me in your power. You would not let me go, and you could not--or would not----' 'Could not, my child. I could not.' 'For four years I have endured the humiliations of the actress who is a failure and can only take the lowest parts. You know what I have endured, and yet---- Oh! Alec, your love is, indeed, a noble gift! And now, for your sake, I am here, playing a part for you. I am the young widow of the man who never existed. I make up a hundred lies every day to a girl who believes every word--which makes it more disgraceful and more horrible. When one knows that she is disbelieved it is different.' 'Zoe, you know my position.' 'Very well, indeed. You live in a little palace. You keep your man-servant and your two horses. You go every day into some kind of good society----' 'It is necessary: my position demands it.' 'Your position, my friend, has nothing to do with it. If you stayed at home every evening just as many copies of your paper would be sold. You spend all this money on yourself, Alec, because you are a selfish person and indulgent, and because you like to make a great show of success.' 'You do not understand.' 'Oh, yes, I do! You paint lovely pictures, which you sell: you write admirable stories and excellent verses--at least, I suppose they are admirable and excellent. You put them into a paper which is your own----' 'Yes--yes. But all these things leave me as poor as I was four years ago.' He got up and stood before the fire, looking into it. Then he walked across to the window and gazed into the street. Then he returned and looked into the fire again. This restlessness may be a sign that something is on a man's mind. 'Zoe,' he said at length, without looking at her, 'your impatience makes you unjust. You do not understand. Things have come to a crisis.' 'What kind of a crisis?' 'A financial crisis. I must have money.' 'Then go and make it. Paint more pictures: write more poetry. Make money, as other men do. It is very noble and grand to pretend that you only work when you please; but it isn't business, and it isn't true.' 'Again--you do not understand. I must have money in a short time, or else----' 'Else--what may happen, Alec?' She leaned forward, losing her murmuring manner for the first time. 'I may--I must--become bankrupt. That to me signifies social ruin.' 'You have something more to say. Won't you say it at once?' 'If I can get over this difficulty it will be all right--my anxieties over. I thought, Zoe, when I sent you here, that, with a girl rich, mistress of her own, of age, it would be easy for you to wind yourself into her confidence and borrow--or beg, or somehow get what I want out of her. To borrow would be best.' 'How much do you want? Tell me exactly.' 'I want, before the end of next month, about 3,000_l._ Say, 3,500_l._' 'That is a very large sum of money.'