killed just now. I am running no more risk than other people."

"Other people--what are other people to me? If you loved me you wouldn't
go off this way and leave me to lie awake at night, wondering whether
you're arrested, or dream you are dead whenever I go to sleep. You don't
care as much for me as for that dog there!"

The Gadfly rose and walked slowly to the other end of the terrace.
He was quite unprepared for such a scene as this and at a loss how to
answer her. Yes, Gemma was right; he had got his life into a tangle that
he would have hard work to undo.

"Sit down and let us talk about it quietly," he said, coming back after
a moment. "I think we have misunderstood each other; of course I should
not have laughed if I had thought you were serious. Try to tell
me plainly what is troubling you; and then, if there is any
misunderstanding, we may be able to clear it up."

"There's nothing to clear up. I can see you don't care a brass farthing
for me."

"My dear child, we had better be quite frank with each other. I have
always tried to be honest about our relationship, and I think I have
never deceived you as to----"

"Oh, no! you have been honest enough; you have never even pretended
to think of me as anything else but a prostitute,--a trumpery bit of
second-hand finery that plenty of other men have had before you--"

"Hush, Zita! I have never thought that way about any living thing."

"You have never loved me," she insisted sullenly.

"No, I have never loved you. Listen to me, and try to think as little
harm of me as you can."

"Who said I thought any harm of you? I----"

"Wait a minute. This is what I want to say: I have no belief whatever in
conventional moral codes, and no respect for them. To me the relations
between men and women are simply questions of personal likes and
dislikes------"

"And of money," she interrupted with a harsh little laugh. He winced and
hesitated a moment.

"That, of course, is the ugly part of the matter. But believe me, if I
had thought that you disliked me, or felt any repulsion to the thing,
I would never have suggested it, or taken advantage of your position to
persuade you to it. I have never done that to any woman in my life, and
I have never told a woman a lie about my feeling for her. You may trust
me that I am speaking the truth----"

He paused a moment, but she did not answer.

"I thought," he went on; "that if a man is alone in the world and feels
the ne