“Oh, heavens!” I gasped. “That was horrible! Horrible!” * * * * * I sat dazed--thinking about it--thinking it over and over--I couldn't understand it, try as I might. Why should he have been so angry _that_ day--had he not told me to come there? And had he not said I should have a report? * * * * * --And then suddenly something flashed over me that made me leap! That firm had written him a letter the day before yesterday asking about the manuscript, and _that_ was why he was angry! And he had sent his secretary down to inquire!--But why in Heaven's name should he send his secretary down to inquire _when he had a telephone connecting with the firm right there in his office_! And so I saw it--all in one instant the thing flashed over me! I was so wild I paid a car-fare--I rode straight as a die down to that place, and I went in and saw the clerk. “He has sent the manuscript now,” I said, “hasn't he?” “Yes,” she said. “He sent it in yesterday?” I said. “Yes.” “He sent it by his secretary, didn't he?” “Yes,” she said again. “Thank you,” I answered, and went out. * * * * * Is not that simply monstrous, simply awful beyond words? I have been beside myself tonight with rage, with amazement, with perplexity. Oh, think what I have suffered at the hands of that frightful man! And what have I _done_ to him--why should he have treated me so? What does it mean? I am baffled every way I turn. The thing is like flame in my blood--like acid in my veins. It makes me hysterical with pain. I cry aloud. * * * * * --What do you mean by it, you monster, you wretch? Why, here for eleven weeks I have been hanging upon your every word--eleven weeks of my life spent in torment--absolutely flung away! _Eleven weeks!_ And you have lied to me--and you have kicked me about like a dog! What do you mean? What do you mean? Tell me, above all, _why_ you did it! Were you torturing me on purpose? Or did you simply forget it? But then, how could you forget it when you had to tell me all those miserable falsehoods? And when you had to write me those letters? And then to-day! That is the thing that goads me most--to-day! I stood there cringed before you like a beaten cur--you kicked me--you spit upon me! And it was every bit of it a lie! That insolent rage of yours--why, it wasn't even genuine! You weren't even angry--you knew that you had no reason to be angry--that you had treated me as if I were a worm to tread on! And yet you stood there and abused me! Oh--why, the thing is madness to think of! It is more madness the more you realize it! I have never known anything like it before in my life.