Still, she did not speak. A tantalizing smile broke over her face, and she stretched her beautiful body lazily in her chair, as a well-conditioned animal stirs in sleek, physical contentment. Again, with curses, he said, "I'm glad you so enjoy my company. To be laughed at, even, is better than your damned indifference." "You misjudge me," she answered in a voice that, low and soft, was still richly colored by the wealth of vitality that found expression in her splendid body. "I am not at all indifferent to your condition--quite the contrary. I am intensely interested. As for the amusement you afford me--please consider--for three years I have amused you. Can you deny me my turn?" He laughed with a hideously mirthless chuckle as he returned with ghastly humor, "I have had the worth of my money. I advise you to make the most of your opportunity. I shall make things as pleasant for you as I can, while I am with you, but, as you know, I am liable to leave you at any time, now." "Pray don't hurry away," she replied sweetly. "I shall miss you so when you are gone." He glared at her while she laughed mockingly. "Where is everybody?" he asked. "The place is as lonely as a tomb." "Louise is out riding with Jim." "And what are you doing at home?" he demanded suspiciously. "Me? Oh I remained to care for you--to keep you from being lonely." "You lie. You are expecting some one." She laughed. "Who is it this time?" he persisted. "Your insinuations are so unwarranted," she murmured. "Whom are you expecting?" "Dear me! how persistently you look for evil," she mocked. "You know perfectly well that, thanks to my tact, I am considered quite the model wife. You really should cultivate a more trusting disposition." Another fit of coughing seized him, and while he suffered she again watched him with that curious air of interest. When he could command his voice, he gasped in a choking whisper, "You fiend! I know, and you know that I know. Am I so innocent that Jack Hanover, and Charlie Rodgers, and Black Whitman, and as many more of their kind, can make love to you under my very nose without my knowing it? You take damned good care--posing as a prude with your fad about immodest dress--that the world sees nothing; but you have never troubled to hide it from me."