u laughing at?" she said sharply.

His answer was a repetition of the idiotic sound.

"What's the matter with you?" demanded she. "Please close your mouth."

It was a timely piece of advice; for his upper and false teeth had
become partially dislodged and threatened to drop upon the shirt-bosom
gayly showing between the lapels of his dark-blue silk house-coat. He
slowly closed his mouth, moving his teeth back into place with his
tongue--a gesture that made her face twitch with rage and disgust.

"Seven thousand dollars," he mumbled dazedly.

"I said less than half that," retorted she sharply.

"And I--thought you were--rich."

A peculiar rolling of the eyes and twisting of the lips gave her the
idea that he was about to vent that repulsive sound again. "Don't you
laugh!" she cried. "I can't bear your laugh--even at its best."

Suddenly he galvanized into fury. "This is an outrage!" he cried,
waving his useless-looking white fists. "You have swindled me--SWINDLED
me!"

Her head stopped aching. The pains in her feet either ceased or she
forgot them. In a suspiciously calm voice she said: "What do you
mean?"

"I mean that you are a swindler!" he shouted, banging one fist on the
table and waving the other.

She acted as though his meaning were just dawning upon her. "Do you
mean," said she tranquilly, "that you married me for money?"

"I mean that I thought you a substantial woman, and that I find you are
an adventuress."

"Did you think," inquired she, "that any woman who had money would
marry YOU?" She laughed very quietly. "You ARE a fool!"

He sat back to look at her. This mode of combat in such circumstances
puzzled him.

"I knew that you were rich," she went on, "or you would not have dared
offer yourself to me. All my friends were amazed at my stooping to
accept you. Your father was an Irish Tammany contractor, wasn't he?--a
sort of criminal? But I simply had to marry. So I gave you my family
and position and name in exchange for your wealth--a good bargain for
you, but a poor one for me."

These references to HIS wealth were most disconcerting, especially as
they were accompanied by remarks about his origin, of which he was so
ashamed that he had changed the spelling of his name in the effort to
clear himself of it. However, some retort was imperative. He looked at
her and said:

"Swindler and adventuress!"

"Don't repeat that lie," said she. "You are the adventurer--despite
the