frankly--"but not
my pride. I am too much of a sinner already to scruple over the disposal
of my soul. But it would not profit me to gain the whole world, and lose
my pride."

"Bosh!" he said contemptuously. "Pride pays no bills--and you owe too
many to let it deprive you of the pleasure of getting rid of a few."

"That is as it may be," she returned. "I have told you the only exchange
I will make."

He sprang up again. This time his anger was scornful.

"Fool!" he cried harshly. "Take your warning! Do you think my
secrets--if I have any--are for you? Or that I, myself, am for you? Why
do you try to force yourself on to dangerous ground? There are things in
the world into which it is not good to pry."

"Plenty," she said, unmoved.

"I may have made you careless promises," he admitted. "I have made many
women promises. It is a bad habit. I cannot keep them. I cannot, and
will not, marry you, or any other woman. The only one I might have
married ... is dead."

"Again you throw her in my face," she murmured, through closed teeth.

"I daresay I used you meanly," he acknowledged. "I _did_ use you meanly.
It was not the game to do what I did that night. I freely admit it. And
I offer you reparation--the only reparation I can make. It would be the
wisest act of your life to take it."

"You have heard my conditions," she replied. "I shall not change them.
Unlike most women, I have been gifted with the faculty of being able to
make up my mind. The time for compromise has passed."

"You don't care for me," he persisted. "You couldn't care for any man.
You're not capable of it. It's not in you."

"Whether or not I care for you does not enter into the matter at all,"
she rejoined calmly. "My capability for affection has no bearing on the
present question."

"You were relying on marrying me to pay your debts," he declared. "You
could not have built a more forlorn hope. I should not pay your debts if
I did marry you. I will give you five thousand pounds for your lie this
morning."

She was very angry. The insult dashed all the color from her face,
leaving it white and set in lines that made her look almost old. Her
eyes glittered menacingly.

"You dare," she said slowly, "to offer _me_ five thousand pounds?"

"And consider yourself damned lucky!" he retorted.

He took out his case, and lit a cigarette with a show of indifference.

"I am not bound to offer you anything," he said carelessly. "That small
point seem