"I never really believed you had ceased to
care....you were capricious like all women...a little spoilt. I knew that
if I had patience...Only a loving wife would do such a thing."
Alexina made a wry face at the banality of his climax, although the fatuous
outburst had barely amused her.
"No, I don't love you in the least, Mortimer, and never shall. Make up your
mind to that. Love some one else if you like....I did this for two reasons:
I did not have the courage to tell Gora the truth--and that I was too
unjust and penurious to restore the money you had taken; and as your wife
it would have hurt my pride unbearably."
"And you are not afraid to trust me with this money?" he asked, his voice
toneless.
"Not in the least. There's no other way to manage it and I fancy you know
what would happen if you didn't hand it over. There is such a thing as the
last straw."
CHAPTER XV
I
It was a week later. Alexina was changing her dress. Maria had asked a
number of her girlhood friends in for luncheon, and they were to exchange
reminiscences in the old house over a table laden as of yore with the
massive Ballinger silver, English cutglass, and French china. Alexina was
about to take refuge with Janet Maynard.
Her door opened unceremoniously and Gora entered.
Alexina caught her breath as she saw her sister-in-law's eyes. They looked
like polar seas in a tropical storm.
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