tretching out her hand-pathetically] Oh! leave me alone,
do! I'm happy here. Be a sport! Be a sport!

DAWKER. [Disconcerted for a second] You can't get at me, so don't
try it on.

CHLOE. I had such a bad time in old days.

[DAWKER shakes his head; his grin has disappeared and his face
is like wood.]

CHLOE. [Panting] Ah! do! You might! You've been fond of some
woman, I suppose. Think of her!

DAWKER. [Decisively] It won't do, Mrs. Chloe. You're a pawn in
the game, and I'm going to use you.

CHLOE. [Despairingly] What is it to you? [With a sudden touch of
the tigress] Look here! Don't you make an enemy, of me. I haven't
dragged through hell for nothing. Women like me can bite, I tell
you.

DAWKER. That's better. I'd rather have a woman threaten than
whine, any day. Threaten away! You'll let 'em know that you met me
in the Promenade one night. Of course you'll let 'em know that,
won't you?--or that----

CHLOE. Be quiet! Oh! Be quiet! [Taking from her bosom the notes
and the pearls] Look! There's my savings--there's all I've got!
The pearls'll fetch nearly a thousand. [Holding it out to him]
Take it, and drop me out--won't you? Won't you?

DAWKER. [Passing his tongue over his lips with a hard little laugh]
You mistake your man, missis. I'm a plain dog, if you like, but I'm
faithful, and I hold fast. Don't try those games on me.

CHLOE. [Losing control] You're a beast!--a beast! a cruel,
cowardly beast! And how dare you bribe that woman here to spy on
me? Oh! yes, you do; you know you do. If you drove me mad, you
wouldn't care. You beast!

DAWKER. Now, don't carry on! That won't help you.

CHLOE. What d'you call it--to dog a woman down like this, just
because you happen to have a quarrel with a man?

DAWKER. Who made the quarrel? Not me, missis. You ought to know
that in a row it's the weak and helpless--we won't say the innocent
--that get it in the neck. That can't be helped.

CHLOE. [Regarding him intently] I hope your mother or your sister,
if you've got any, may go through what I'm going through ever since
you got on my track. I hope they'll know what fear means. I hope
they'll love and find out that it's hanging on a thread, and--and--
Oh! you coward, you persecuting coward! Call yourself a man!

DAWKER. [With his grin] Ah! You look quite pretty like that. By
George! you're a handsome woman when you're roused.

[CHLOE'S