he want of money
that made me fancy my home wretched. It is not true that I can do as I
like. How many minutes is it since you threatened to cast me off if I
did not make myself agreeable to you? Can you boast of your generosity
after taunting me with my dependence on you?"

"You misunderstood me, Marian. I neither boasted, nor threatened, nor
taunted. I have even apologized for that moment's irritation. If you
cannot forgive such a trifle, you yourself can have very little
generosity."

"Perhaps not. I do not violently resent things; but I cannot forget
them, nor feel as I did before they happened."

"You think so at present. Let us cease this bickering. Lovers' quarrels
should not be carried too far."

"I am longing to cease it. It worries me; and it does not alter my
determination in the least."

"Do you mean----"

"I do mean. Dont look at me like that: you make me angry instead of
frightening me."

"And do you think I will suffer this quietly?"

"You may suffer it as you please," said Marian, stepping quietly to the
wall, and pressing a button. "I will never see you again if I can help
it. If you follow me, or persecute me in any way, I will appeal to the
police for protection as Mrs. Conolly. I despise you more than I do any
one on earth."

He turned away, and snatched up his coat and hat. She stood apparently
watching him quietly, but really listening with quickened heart to his
loud and irregular breathing. As he opened the door to go out, he was
confronted on the threshold by a foreign waiter.

"Vas you reeng?" said the waiter doubtfully, retreating a step.

"I will not be accountable for that woman's expenses from this time
forth," said Douglas, pointing at her, "You can keep her at your own
risk, or turn her into the streets to pursue her profession, as you
please."

The waiter, smiting vaguely, looked first at the retreating figure of
Douglas, and then at Marian.

"I want another room, if you please," she said. "One on any of the upper
floors will do; but I must have my things moved there at once."

Her instructions were carried out after some parley. In the meantime,
Douglas's man servant appeared, and said that he had been instructed to
remove his master's luggage.

"Is Mr. Forster leaving the hotel?" she asked.

"I dont know his arrangements, madam."

"I guess I do, then," said a sulky man, who was preparing to wheel away
Marian's trunk. "He's about to shift his billet to the Gran' C