There was a pause, then, with a gesture, as if he had mastered himself,

Dene went on: "Well, I have bullied you, after all, haven't I? And, upon my soul, I

didn't mean to; for I knew it would be only waste of breath. Nothing can

really touch you; and you'll forget every nasty thing I've said as soon

as you've got rid of me safely. No; what I came to say was this: I'm not

going to show you up. I'm going to take this thing upon me; you know why

well enough."

Heyton shot a glance at him, a glance full of hate and jealousy.

"Yes, it's for Miriam's sake," said Dene, quietly, without any sign of

emotion. "She and I were pals; nothing had ever come between us until

Advertisement..

you turned up. She would have married me but for you. Oh, I'm not

blaming her; poor girl, there's a weak streak in her; she comes of a bad

lot. Of course, the Earl of Heyton, the son of a marquess, was a better

match than Derrick Dene, a nobody, with his fortune to make, his bare

living to get; but, on my soul, I think she would have stood by me, and

would have resisted the temptation, if you had not told lies about me

and persuaded her that I was an utter blackguard. And, by the way, you

did it rather well. I was quite astonished how she let things out just

now when she came to me. You did it very well. And I thought you were an

utter fool!"

The other man glanced wickedly under his brows and set his teeth, but he

said nothing; he was afraid to utter a word lest he should rouse his

victim from his state of calm and quiet.

"It was clever of you to saddle poor little Susie Morton's trouble on

me, while you were really the man--the scoundrel, I should say; it was

clever of you to rake up all my little sky-larkings and turn them into

something worse. Well, they say that 'all is fair in love and war.' You

won, you took her away from me--and it's about Miriam that I've come to

talk to you."

Heyton moistened his lips and, with his eyes fixed on his patent leather

boots, he said, thickly: "Did you tell her that--the truth?"

Dene laughed shortly. "No; I didn't. Nine men out of ten would think I

was a fool for not doing so; certainly you would. But most men wouldn't

understand, and most assuredly you wouldn't, why I didn't. No; I didn't

tell her that I was innocent and that you were guilty; that you had

forged a cheque and got me, like a fool, to present it. I didn't even

tell her that it was you, you blackguard, who had ruined poor little

Susie. You look surprised."




Most Popular