She cast upon him one harrowing glance of contempt, and then devoted her attention to the girl. “If I gave you the money to get to your home, would you go?” Heloise nodded weakly. “You shall have it to-morrow. Come with me.” Heloise gently freed herself of the detaining arm. “No--no, I’ll stay,” she said brokenly. “I guess there’s something I want to say to Dan, something that I want no other woman to hear.” Diana went pale. “I think I understand,” she said quietly, and went out, closing the door softly behind her. Heloise waited, crept to the door and listened before she spun round, joy in her face. “Whoop-ee!” She danced round the kitchen. “I got my fare! I got my fare! Oh boy, some leading woman! Heloise, your salary is raised and your name’s in lights.” “You, you wicked woman!” gasped Gordon. “How dare you--how dare you!” “Aw, listen!” Hand on hip, she faced him, looking from under her curling lashes. “I gotta get somethin’ on the side. Be reasonable, Man. I’m broke--I couldn’t raise two dollars. Suppose Dan does pay up--where’s my transportation coming from? Have a heart, birdie.” “You’ve deceived Miss Ford.” “Now listen to Holy Mike! Haven’t you deceived her? Anyway, you don’t deserve a nice li’l girl like that. Don’t think I despise her because she’s easy. That’s a real nice girl. You lied when you said you were married--you may be, but it is not to Diana. And never will be. She’s got brains.” He strode up and down the kitchen with furious strides, muttering under his breath. Presently he confronted her. “You take away my character--you accuse me of the most abominable acts. You swear away my reputation in a most disgraceful manner. I am Double Dan in her eyes.” She had found and lit another cigarette and was sitting on the table, her feet swinging. “Gee, you’ve gotta get a sense of humour, boy,” she said good-naturedly. “You’re too serious, that’s what’s wrong with you! She’s a good dresser too--that gown she was wearing this afternoon certainly made me feel old.” He was cooling down now. The uselessness of argument or appeal was so apparent that he fell into her mood. “I shall finish in a lunatic asylum,” he said, “just as surely as Double Dan will finish in jail.” “Don’t you worry. The li’l game is going to end very soon. I’m through. John’s due home in a fortnight, and I’m just longing for the smell of rubber an’ oil an’ breakfast. That’s what a ship smells like to me. I’m going to have it out with Dan.” “You mean, he is coming--that we shall meet?” asked Gordon eagerly. “We shall meet and he shall part,” she said cryptically, “that’s what. The poor Limburger! And he’s going to split fair. Did he think I’d sit down an’ take his twen’y-eighty? No, sir. As a woman the idea revolts me. I was brought up in a strict fifty-fifty school!” Gordon was himself again.