Page:What Maisie Knew (Chicago & New York, Herbert S. Stone & Co., 1897).djvu/348

334 that and to be ready to do so much for the poor little likes of Maisie and me! She has a hold of you, and you know it, and you want to feel it again, and—from God knows, or at least I know, what base motive and desire—to enjoy it once more and give yourself up to it! It does n't matter if it 's one day or three; enough's as good as a feast, and the lovely time you 'll have with her is something you 're willing to pay for! I dare say you 'd like me to believe that your pay is to get her to give you up; but that 's a matter on which I adjure you not to put down your money in advance. Give her up first. Then pay her what you please!"

Sir Claude took this to the end; though there were things in it that made him color, called into his face more of the apprehension than Maisie had ever perceived there of a particular sort of shock. She had an odd sense that it was the first time she had seen any one but Mrs. Wix really and truly scandalized, and this fed her inference, which grew and grew from moment to moment, that Mrs. Wix was proving more of a force to reckon with than either of them had allowed so much room for. It was true that, long before, she had obtained a "hold" of him,