She braced herself--holding her feet a little apart as though steadying for a blow. “I ain’t goin’ now. I ain’t goin’ no time.” Unconsciously she had fallen back into the vernacular both in words and voice. There was a drawling softness to it that Allston noticed. It made for tenderness. It was difficult for him to maintain his rigid sternness in the face of it. Yet that was the only safe thing to do. He seized her arm. “Quick!” he commanded. She shook herself free with a semblance of indignation. Most women are born actresses, given the occasion. And Roxie had the occasion. Her heart and soul were in the stand she was taking. Certainly the stake was big enough--his life and nothing less. She was playing for a larger salary than most real actresses receive. “Don’ tech me!” she cried. His brows came together. “Good Lord--do you want me to throw you over my back?” “Do I want ye ter throw me over your back?” Her blue eyes flamed. Had it not been for the cost to him, that is just what she would have liked. But the cost to him was what made it impossible. “Damn it, I’ll do it if you don’t come _now_,” he threatened. (Out in the hall alone, Bud was clawing, clawing, clawing. He had been clawing all this time. The tips of his fingers were bleeding, but the rope was fuzzing deeper and deeper. Every now and then he stopped to strain at it. Gawd A’mighty, if he should get free--!) “Put on your hat and coat or I’ll do it for you,” insisted Allston. The words she was trying to utter stuck in her throat. This acting business was not so easy after all. Yet she found her voice when Allston almost roughly seized her arm again. The touch of him gave the inspiration she needed. “I’m goin’ ter stay hyar. I’m goin’ ter stay with Bud,” she trembled. “You what?” “I come hyar with Bud. Ain’t I got a right?” “But _why_ did you come?” “I come because I wanted. He asked me ter marry him an’ I said I would. Ain’t I got a right?” “You mean you love him?” Here was a direct question. It demanded a direct answer. She turned her eyes around the shack like a frightened animal. The man before her followed her gaze. She could not get away from him. So finally-- “Yes,” she answered. “You came here of your own free will?” “Yes.” “And the note you wrote was simply to throw Miss Wilmer off the track?” “I--I hed ter tell her somethin’,” she pleaded. “Lord!” he broke out. “What a farce! What a farce!” She did not know the meaning of his words, but she saw something like a smile below his frown and she did not like that. “If folks would only leave other folks alone!” she cried. Allston started. “There’s real philosophy in that,” he nodded. “If folks would only leave other folks alone!”