"Of course I'm jealous. I've reason to be. He's mine. But even if I could trust you ... and I believe I could ... Arthur's future wouldn't tempt me to risk his present. No ... it's too dangerous." "Dangerous..." Gabrielle clutched at the word. "Dangerous!" She became suddenly quiet and intense. "I don't believe you know where the danger lies," she said. "I can see the most obvious danger, and that's a love affair with a married woman." "You can't see any other? You said just now that Arthur had changed thanks to my husband. Perhaps my husband took the credit for it and you believed it. But it isn't true. I've seen the change coming hour by hour, day by day. Every moment of it I've watched and treasured. He did not change because he worked with my husband. He changed because I loved him and he loved me. I know it ... I've known it all the time. What did your love do for him in all those years? Nothing ... nothing at all. For heaven's sake don't think I'm boasting! Your love never changed him a hair's breadth, and you know it!" Mrs. Payne gasped. "You don't realize what you're saying." "But I do ... I do. You say his body's part of you--belongs to you. I'll give you that. But this soul ... his new soul ... is mine. That's part of our love. Ours and nobody else's...." Mrs. Payne choked back her emotion. "I don't grudge it you," she said, "I only thank God for it gratefully ... gratefully." "But you don't see what I mean," said Gabrielle slowly. "Arthur has changed because he loves me. He's ceased to be cruel because he knows that for him to be cruel pains me. He's learned to see things just as I see them. And now you want to separate us ... even after what I have promised you. Can't you see what I'm afraid of?" She paused, and Mrs. Payne was silent. Gabrielle quickly pressed her advantage. "If you separate us, if you try to destroy our love, you'll be taking away from him the thing that's saved him. How do you know that he won't slip back again? You can take his body from me ... I know that ... but you may lose more than you get." Mrs. Payne stood staring straight in front of her. "Then you will know what you are worth to him." Gabrielle's tone was almost scornful. "You see how it stands," she continued. "We both of us want him for ourselves, we want him as he is to-day ... and we can't either of us have him without the other's consent. You hold his body, and I hold his soul. Let's be reasonable. Let's compromise. I'm ready to do my part. Oh, I beg you to be reasonable!" "You're a devil, not a woman," said Mrs. Payne. "But you see that I'm right?" Gabrielle persisted. Mrs. Payne summoned all her strength. "No, I don't. I don't believe it." "Ah, you pretend that you don't! But you're bluffing me. I know it. Why did you come to me about this instead of to Arthur himself? Because you were afraid. That was the reason."