Within the Law [50]
love him?"
The question caught Mary all unprepared, but she retained her self-control sufficiently to make her answer in a voice that to the ordinary ear would have revealed no least tremor.
"No," she said. She offered no explanation, no excuse, merely stated the fact in all its finality.
Aggie was really shocked, though for a reason altogether sordid, not one whit romantic.
"Ain't he young?" she demanded aggressively. "Ain't he good-looking, and loose with his money something scandalous? If I met up with a fellow as liberal as him, if he was three times his age, I could simply adore him!"
It was Garson who pressed the topic with an inexorable curiosity born of his unselfish interest in the woman concerned.
"Then, why did you marry him?" he asked. The sincerity of him was excuse enough for the seeming indelicacy of the question. Besides, he felt himself somehow responsible. He had given back to her the gift of life, which she had rejected. Surely, he had the right to know the truth.
It seemed that Mary believed her confidence his due, for she told him the fact.
"I have been working and scheming for nearly a year to do it," she said, with a hardening of her face that spoke of indomitable resolve. "Now, it's done." A vindictive gleam shot from her violet eyes as she added: "It's only the beginning, too."
Garson, with the keen perspicacity that had made him a successful criminal without a single conviction to mar his record, had seized the implication in her statement, and now put it in words.
"Then, you won't leave us? We're going on as we were before?" The hint of dejection in his manner had vanished. "And you won't live with him?"
"Live with him?" Mary exclaimed emphatically. "Certainly not!"
Aggie's neatly rounded jaw dropped in a gape of surprise that was most unladylike.
"You are going to live on in this joint with us?" she questioned, aghast.
"Of course." The reply was given with the utmost of certainty.
Aggie presented the crux of the matter.
"Where will hubby live?"
There was no lessening of the bride's composure as she replied, with a little shrug.
"Anywhere but here."
Aggie suddenly giggled. To her sense of humor there was something vastly diverting in this new scheme of giving bliss to a fond husband.
"Anywhere but here," she repeated gaily. "Oh, won't that be nice--for him? Oh, yes! Oh, quite so! Oh, yes, indeed--quite so--so!"
Garson, however, was still patient in his determination to apprehend just what had come to pass.
"Does he understand the arrangement?" was his question.
"No, not yet," Mary admitted, without sign of embarrassment.
"Well," Aggie said, with another giggle, "when you do get around to tell him, break it to him gently."
Garson was intently considering another phase of the situation, one suggested perhaps out of his own deeper sentiments.
"He must think a lot of you!" he said, gravely. "Don't he?"
For the first time, Mary was moved to the display of a slight confusion. She hesitated a little before her answer, and when she spoke it was in a lower key, a little more slowly.
"I--I suppose so."
Aggie presented the truth more subtly than could have been expected from her.
"Think a lot of you? Of course he does! Thinks enough to marry you! And believe me, kid, when a man thinks enough of you to marry you, well, that's some thinking!"
Somehow, the crude expression of this professional adventuress penetrated to Mary's conscience, though it held in it the truth to which her conscience bore witness, to which she had tried to shut her ears.... And now from the man came something like a draught of elixir to her conscience--like the trump of doom to her scheme of vengeance.
Garson spoke very softly, but with an intensity that left no doubt as to the honesty of his purpose.
"I'd say, throw up the whole game and go to him, if you really care."
There fell a tense silence. It was broken by Mary herself. She spoke with a touch of haste, as if battling against some hindrance within.
The question caught Mary all unprepared, but she retained her self-control sufficiently to make her answer in a voice that to the ordinary ear would have revealed no least tremor.
"No," she said. She offered no explanation, no excuse, merely stated the fact in all its finality.
Aggie was really shocked, though for a reason altogether sordid, not one whit romantic.
"Ain't he young?" she demanded aggressively. "Ain't he good-looking, and loose with his money something scandalous? If I met up with a fellow as liberal as him, if he was three times his age, I could simply adore him!"
It was Garson who pressed the topic with an inexorable curiosity born of his unselfish interest in the woman concerned.
"Then, why did you marry him?" he asked. The sincerity of him was excuse enough for the seeming indelicacy of the question. Besides, he felt himself somehow responsible. He had given back to her the gift of life, which she had rejected. Surely, he had the right to know the truth.
It seemed that Mary believed her confidence his due, for she told him the fact.
"I have been working and scheming for nearly a year to do it," she said, with a hardening of her face that spoke of indomitable resolve. "Now, it's done." A vindictive gleam shot from her violet eyes as she added: "It's only the beginning, too."
Garson, with the keen perspicacity that had made him a successful criminal without a single conviction to mar his record, had seized the implication in her statement, and now put it in words.
"Then, you won't leave us? We're going on as we were before?" The hint of dejection in his manner had vanished. "And you won't live with him?"
"Live with him?" Mary exclaimed emphatically. "Certainly not!"
Aggie's neatly rounded jaw dropped in a gape of surprise that was most unladylike.
"You are going to live on in this joint with us?" she questioned, aghast.
"Of course." The reply was given with the utmost of certainty.
Aggie presented the crux of the matter.
"Where will hubby live?"
There was no lessening of the bride's composure as she replied, with a little shrug.
"Anywhere but here."
Aggie suddenly giggled. To her sense of humor there was something vastly diverting in this new scheme of giving bliss to a fond husband.
"Anywhere but here," she repeated gaily. "Oh, won't that be nice--for him? Oh, yes! Oh, quite so! Oh, yes, indeed--quite so--so!"
Garson, however, was still patient in his determination to apprehend just what had come to pass.
"Does he understand the arrangement?" was his question.
"No, not yet," Mary admitted, without sign of embarrassment.
"Well," Aggie said, with another giggle, "when you do get around to tell him, break it to him gently."
Garson was intently considering another phase of the situation, one suggested perhaps out of his own deeper sentiments.
"He must think a lot of you!" he said, gravely. "Don't he?"
For the first time, Mary was moved to the display of a slight confusion. She hesitated a little before her answer, and when she spoke it was in a lower key, a little more slowly.
"I--I suppose so."
Aggie presented the truth more subtly than could have been expected from her.
"Think a lot of you? Of course he does! Thinks enough to marry you! And believe me, kid, when a man thinks enough of you to marry you, well, that's some thinking!"
Somehow, the crude expression of this professional adventuress penetrated to Mary's conscience, though it held in it the truth to which her conscience bore witness, to which she had tried to shut her ears.... And now from the man came something like a draught of elixir to her conscience--like the trump of doom to her scheme of vengeance.
Garson spoke very softly, but with an intensity that left no doubt as to the honesty of his purpose.
"I'd say, throw up the whole game and go to him, if you really care."
There fell a tense silence. It was broken by Mary herself. She spoke with a touch of haste, as if battling against some hindrance within.