Page:The Baron of Diamond Tail (1923).pdf/259

 "There'll be no use in your trying to leave us, Alma," he informed her. "You'd be stopped, humiliated, I expect, and carried back. You'd better stay quietly here and see it through."

"You can't force me into a marriage!" she defied him.

"It might not stand the test of law," he admitted. "But I'll do my part."

"The part of a scoundrel!"

"It's only a form; you don't need to let it go any farther."

"It never will go that far!" she told him, vibrant in her rage.

Nearing had become indifferent to her scorn. It touched him no deeper than her angry arraignment and rebellious rage.

"Dale is a man who will know how to take care of you, anyhow," he said.

"He's robbed you of everything, even your manhood. Even if I were fool enough to let you force me into such a disgraceful thing, what do you suppose you'd gain in honor by it before the world?"

"It is not for you to pass judgment on my acts and purposes—only to do as you are commanded. His mouth will be shut, I tell you, his mouth will be shut!"

Nearing left her, closing the door after him gently, as if he shut it on one who had fallen asleep in a sickness, after a long struggle with a delirium that racked the foundations of life.