Don't look shocked! You meet him secretly,
I know--how much farther you have gone with him I don't know. It is
enough that you--"
"Stop! You shall not say such things to me!"
"You came in here to have it out with me. Well, we'll have it out. You
think because you're English, and all that that you are better than I.
You show it in your every action; you turn up your nose at me because
I am an American. Well, what if I am? Where would you be if it were
not for me? And where would _he_ be? You'd starve if it were not
for me. You hang to me like a leech--you sponge on me, you gorge
yourself--"
"That is enough, Evelyn. You have said all that is necessary. I
deserve it, too, for meddling in your affairs. It may satisfy you to
know that I have always despised you. Having confessed, I can only add
that we cannot live another hour under the same roof. You need not
order me to go. I shall do so of my own accord--gladly." Penelope
turned to the door. She was as cold as ice.
"It is the first time you have ever done anything to please me. You
may go in the morning."
"I shall go to-night!"
"As you like. It is near morning. Where do you expect to go at this
hour of night?"
"I am not afraid of the night. To-morrow I shall send over from the
village for my trunks." She paused near the door and then came back to
Cecil's side. "Good-bye, Cecil. I'll write. Good-bye." He looked up
with a hazy smile.
"G'night," he muttered thickly.
Without another word or so much as a glance at Lady Bazelhurst,
Penelope Drake went swiftly from the room.
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