Part 27 (2/2)

A shadow of annoyance pa.s.sed over her face, as if some part of her plan had gone wrong, and then her eyes took on a fire.

”'_Us_?'” she said. ”Would you have married me, Rimrock? But surely, not for the stock! Oh, I wish sometimes----” She stopped abruptly and looked at him strangely and then she hurried on. ”Ah, no,” she sighed, ”that can never be--you are in love with that other woman--out there.

When you met her at the opera, you forgot all about me. You went off and left me alone. If Whitney H. Stoddard had called me up then!” Her eyes flashed dangerously and she looked away, at which Rimrock glanced quickly at his watch.

”By--grab!” he exclaimed half-rising to his feet, ”do you know it's half-past twelve? Say, where's your telephone? I've got a deal on in Navajoa and I've just got to find out where I am!”

She rose up suddenly and turned to face him with a look of queenly scorn.

”I have no telephone!” she answered evenly, ”and if I did have I would not lend it to you. You're just like the rest of these men, I see; you think in terms of stocks. I should have done as Stoddard said, and paid you back for your rudeness. Do you know, Mr. Jones, that you think more of money than of anything else in the world? Are you aware of the fact that all the love and devotion that any poor woman might bestow would be wholly wasted, and worse than wasted, on a miserable stock-gambler like you! Ah, I was a fool!” she burst out, stamping her foot in a pa.s.sion; and then she sank back on the divan and wept.

Rimrock stood and gazed at her, then glanced absently at his watch and looked about, shamefaced, for a 'phone. But in that elegant apartment, with its rich furnis.h.i.+ngs and tapestries there was no place for a crude, commercial telephone, and the door to the inner room was closed.

He turned towards the outer door, for his business was urgent, but she had carried off the key. He stirred uneasily, and a shrewd doubt a.s.sailed him for her weeping seemed all at once sophisticated and forced; and at the moment she raised her head. One look and she had cast herself upon him and twined her arms about his neck.

”I can't help it! I can't help it!” she sobbed convulsively and drew down his head and kissed him. ”I can't help it!” she whispered. ”I love you, Rimrock; I can't bear to let you go!”

She clung to him pa.s.sionately and with tremulous laughter tugged to draw him back to the divan, but Rimrock stood upright and stubborn.

Some strange influence, some memory, seemed to sweep into his brain and make him immune to her charm. It was the memory of a kiss, but not like her kisses; a kiss that was impulsive and shy. He pondered laboriously, while he took hold of her hands and slowly drew them away, and then his strong grip tightened. It was the kiss that Mary had given him in prison, when she had laid her cheek against the bars!

That kiss had haunted him through the long months of waiting, and it rose in his memory now, when perhaps it were better forgotten. He put away the hands that still clung and petted and gazed fiercely into her eyes. And the woman faced him--without a tear on her cheek for all the false weeping she had done.

”How's this?” he said and as she sensed his suspicion she jerked back in sudden defiance.

”A stock-jobber!” she mocked. ”All you think of is money. The love of a woman is nothing to you!”

”Aw, cut out that talk!” commanded Rimrock brutally. ”Some women are stock-jobbers, too. And speaking of stock, just give me a look at those two thousand shares of Tecolote.”

A sullen, sulky pout distorted her mouth and she made a face like a wilful girl.

”You'd s.n.a.t.c.h them,” she said, ”and run away and leave me. And then what would I say to Stoddard?”

”Are you working for him?” he asked directly and she threw out her arms in a pet.

”No! I wish I were, but it's too late now. I might have made money, but as it is I stand to lose everything.”

”Oh, you stand to lose everything, do you? Well say, that reminds me, I guess I stand about the same!”

He picked up his hat and started for the door, but she caught him by the arm.

”You're going to that woman!” she hissed vindictively, ”perhaps I can tell you something about her. Well, I can!” she declared, ”and I can prove it, too. I can prove it by my Tecolote stock.”

”You haven't got any stock,” answered Rimrock roughly. But he stopped and she drew back and smiled.

”Oh!” she said as she noted his interest, ”you're beginning to believe me now. Well, I can show you by the endors.e.m.e.nt where she sold out to Stoddard over a month before I came. She sold him two thousand shares of Tecolote for exactly two million dollars--and that's why she left when I came. She was afraid you would find her out. But you, you poor fool, you thought she was perfect; and had left because her feelings were hurt! But she couldn't fool me, I could read her like a book, and I'll tell you what she has done.”

”You'll do nothing of the kind!” broke in Rimrock savagely, ”you'll go and get me that stock. I won't believe a word you say----”

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