Children of the Whirlwind [52]
good hiding."
"But, Larry--don't you know it's dangerous for you to come out? And to come here of all places?"
"I couldn't help myself. I simply had to see you, Maggie."
He was still holding her hand, and there was an instinctive grip of her fingers about his. For a moment--the moment during which her outer or more conscious self was startled into forgetfulness--they gazed at each other silently and steadily, eye into eye.
And then the things the Duchess had said crept back into his mind, and he said:
"Maggie, I've come to take you out of all this. Get ready--let's leave at once."
That broke the spell. She jerked away from him, and instantly she was the old Maggie: the Maggie who had jeered at him and defied him the night of his return from prison when he had announced his new plan-- the Maggie who had flaunted him as "stool" and "squealer" the evening she had left the Duchess's to enter upon this new career.
"No, you're not going to take me out of this!" she flung at him. "I told you once before that I wasn't going your way! I told you that I was going my own way! That held for then, and it holds for now, and it will hold for always!"
The softer mood which had come upon him by surprise at sight of her and filled him, now gave way to grim determination. "Yes, you are coming my way--sometime, if not now! And now if I can make you!"
Their embattled gazes gripped each other. But now Larry was seeing more than just Maggie. He was also taking in the room. It was close kin to the room in which he had left Miss Grierson: ornate, undistinguished, and very expensive. He noted one slight difference: a tiny hallway giving on the corridor, its inner door now opened.
But the greatest difference was what he saw over Maggie's smooth white shoulders: a table all set with china and glass and silver, and arranged for five.
"Maggie, what's this game you're up to?" he demanded.
"It's none of your business!" she said fiercely, but in a low tone-- for both were instinctively remembering Miss Grierson in the adjoining room. And then she added proudly: "But it's big! Bigger than anything you ever dreamed of! And you can see I am putting it across so far-- and I'll be putting it across at the finish! Compare it to the cheap line you talked about. Bah!"
"Listen, Maggie!" In his intensity he gripped her bare forearm. "This is bad business, and if you had any sense you'd know it! Don't you think I get the layout? Barney is your cousin, Old Jimmie is your uncle, that dame in the next room and this suite and your swell clothes to help put up a front! And your sickness that wouldn't let you go to the theater is just a fake, so that, not wanting to disappoint them entirely, you'd have an excuse for having supper here--and thus adroitly draw some person into the trap of a more intimate relationship. It's a clever and classy layout. Maggie, exactly what's your game?"
"I'll not tell you!"
"Who's that man that's coming here?"
"I'll not tell you!"
"Is he the sucker you're out to trim?"
"I'll not tell you!"
"You will tell me!" he cried dominantly. "And you're going to get out of all this! You hear me? It may look good to you now. But I tell you it has only one finish! And that's a rotten finish!"
She tore free from his punishing grip, and pantingly glared at him--her former defiance now an egoistic fury.
"I won't have you interfering with my life!--you fake preacher!--you stool, you squealer!" she flung at him madly. "Stool--squealer!" she repeated. "I tell you I'm going my own way--and it's a big way--and I tell you again nothing you can say or do can stop me! If I could have my best wish, all I'd wish for would be something to keep you from always interfering--something to get you out of my way!"
Panting, she paused. Her tense figure, with hands closing and unclosing, expressed the very acme of furious defiance--of desire to annihilate--of ultimate hatred. Larry was astounded by the very extent, the profundity, of her passion. And so they stood, silent except for their quick breathing, eyes
"But, Larry--don't you know it's dangerous for you to come out? And to come here of all places?"
"I couldn't help myself. I simply had to see you, Maggie."
He was still holding her hand, and there was an instinctive grip of her fingers about his. For a moment--the moment during which her outer or more conscious self was startled into forgetfulness--they gazed at each other silently and steadily, eye into eye.
And then the things the Duchess had said crept back into his mind, and he said:
"Maggie, I've come to take you out of all this. Get ready--let's leave at once."
That broke the spell. She jerked away from him, and instantly she was the old Maggie: the Maggie who had jeered at him and defied him the night of his return from prison when he had announced his new plan-- the Maggie who had flaunted him as "stool" and "squealer" the evening she had left the Duchess's to enter upon this new career.
"No, you're not going to take me out of this!" she flung at him. "I told you once before that I wasn't going your way! I told you that I was going my own way! That held for then, and it holds for now, and it will hold for always!"
The softer mood which had come upon him by surprise at sight of her and filled him, now gave way to grim determination. "Yes, you are coming my way--sometime, if not now! And now if I can make you!"
Their embattled gazes gripped each other. But now Larry was seeing more than just Maggie. He was also taking in the room. It was close kin to the room in which he had left Miss Grierson: ornate, undistinguished, and very expensive. He noted one slight difference: a tiny hallway giving on the corridor, its inner door now opened.
But the greatest difference was what he saw over Maggie's smooth white shoulders: a table all set with china and glass and silver, and arranged for five.
"Maggie, what's this game you're up to?" he demanded.
"It's none of your business!" she said fiercely, but in a low tone-- for both were instinctively remembering Miss Grierson in the adjoining room. And then she added proudly: "But it's big! Bigger than anything you ever dreamed of! And you can see I am putting it across so far-- and I'll be putting it across at the finish! Compare it to the cheap line you talked about. Bah!"
"Listen, Maggie!" In his intensity he gripped her bare forearm. "This is bad business, and if you had any sense you'd know it! Don't you think I get the layout? Barney is your cousin, Old Jimmie is your uncle, that dame in the next room and this suite and your swell clothes to help put up a front! And your sickness that wouldn't let you go to the theater is just a fake, so that, not wanting to disappoint them entirely, you'd have an excuse for having supper here--and thus adroitly draw some person into the trap of a more intimate relationship. It's a clever and classy layout. Maggie, exactly what's your game?"
"I'll not tell you!"
"Who's that man that's coming here?"
"I'll not tell you!"
"Is he the sucker you're out to trim?"
"I'll not tell you!"
"You will tell me!" he cried dominantly. "And you're going to get out of all this! You hear me? It may look good to you now. But I tell you it has only one finish! And that's a rotten finish!"
She tore free from his punishing grip, and pantingly glared at him--her former defiance now an egoistic fury.
"I won't have you interfering with my life!--you fake preacher!--you stool, you squealer!" she flung at him madly. "Stool--squealer!" she repeated. "I tell you I'm going my own way--and it's a big way--and I tell you again nothing you can say or do can stop me! If I could have my best wish, all I'd wish for would be something to keep you from always interfering--something to get you out of my way!"
Panting, she paused. Her tense figure, with hands closing and unclosing, expressed the very acme of furious defiance--of desire to annihilate--of ultimate hatred. Larry was astounded by the very extent, the profundity, of her passion. And so they stood, silent except for their quick breathing, eyes