"Yes--and no lies," said her uncle.
"I don"t know what you mean," Susan at last answered--truthfully enough, yet to gain time, too.
"You can"t play that game any longer," cried Warham. "You did make a fool of me, but my eyes are open. Your aunt"s right about you."
"Oh, Uncle George!" said the girl, a sob in her voice.
But he gazed pitilessly--gazed at the woman he was now abhorring as the treacherous, fallen, uns.e.xed daughter of fallen Lorella.
"Speak out. Crying won"t help you. What have you and this fellow been up to? You disgrace!"
Susan shrank and shivered, but answered steadfastly, "That"s between him and me, Uncle."
Warham gave a snort of fury, turned to the elder Wright. "You see, Wright," cried he. "It"s as my wife and I told you. Your boy"s lying. We"ll send the landlady out for a preacher and marry them."
"Hold on, George," objected Wright soothingly. "I agreed to that only if there"d been something wrong. I"m not satisfied yet." He turned to Susan, said in his gruff, blunt way:
"Susan, have you been loose with my boy here?"
"Loose?" said Susan wonderingly.
Sam roused himself. "Tell them it isn"t so, Susan," he pleaded, and his voice was little better than a whine of terror. "Your uncle"s going to kill me and my father"ll kick me out."
Susan"s heart grew sick as she looked at him--looked furtively, for she was ashamed to see him so abject. "If you mean did I let him kiss me," she said to Mr. Wright, "why, I did. We kissed several times. But we had the right to. We were engaged."
Sam turned on his father in an agony of terror. "That isn"t true!" he cried. "I swear it isn"t, father. We aren"t engaged. I only made love to her a little, as a fellow does to lots of girls."
Susan looked at him with wide, horrified eyes. "Sam!" she exclaimed breathlessly. "Sam!"
Sam"s eyes dropped, but he managed to turn his face in her direction. The situation was too serious for him; he did not dare to indulge in such vanities as manhood or manly appearance.
"That"s the truth, Susan," he said sullenly. "_You_ talked a lot about marrying but _I_ never thought of such a thing."
"But--you said--you loved me."
"I didn"t mean anything by it."
There fell a silence that was interrupted by Mr. Wright. "You see there"s nothing in it, Warham. I"ll take my boy and go."
"Not by a d.a.m.n sight!" cried Warham. "He"s got to marry her.
Susan, did Sam promise to marry you?"
"When he got through college," replied Susan.
"I thought so! And he persuaded you to run away."
"No," said Susan. "He----"
"I say yes," stormed her uncle. "Don"t lie!"
"Warham! Warham!" remonstrated Mr. Wright. "Don"t browbeat the girl."
"He begged me not to go," said Susan.
"You lying fool!" shouted her uncle. Then to Wright, "If he did ask her to stay it was because he was afraid it would all come out--just as it has."
"I never promised to marry her!" whined Sam. "Honest to G.o.d, father, I never did. Honest to G.o.d, Mr. Warham! You know that"s so, Susan. It was you that did all the marrying talk."
"Yes," she said slowly. "Yes, I believe it was." She looked dazedly at the three men. "I supposed he meant marriage because--" her voice faltered, but she steadied it and went on--"because we loved each other."
"I knew it!" cried her uncle. "You hear, Wright? She admits he betrayed her."
Susan remembered the horrible part of her cousin"s s.e.x revelations. "Oh, no!" she cried. "I wouldn"t have let him do that--even if he had wanted to. No--not even if we"d been married."
"You see, Warham!" cried Mr. Wright, in triumph.
"I see a liar!" was Warham"s furious answer. "She"s trying to defend him and make out a case for herself."
"I am telling the truth," said Susan.
Warham gazed unbelievingly at her, speechless with fury. Mr.
Wright took his silk hat from the corner of the piano. "I"m satisfied they"re innocent," said he. "So I"ll take my boy and go."
"Not if I know it!" retorted Warham. "He"s got to marry her."
"But the girl says she"s pure, says he never spoke of marriage, says he begged her not to run away. Be reasonable, Warham."
"For a good Christian," sneered he at Wright, "you"re mighty easily convinced by a flimsy lie. In your heart you know the boy has wronged her and that she"s shielding him, just as----" There Warham checked himself; it would be anything but timely to remind Wright of the character of the girl"s mother.
"I"ll admit," said Mr. Wright smoothly, "that I wasn"t overanxious for my boy"s marriage with a girl whose mother was--unfortunate. But if your charge had been true, Warham, I"d have made the boy do her justice, she being only seventeen. Come, Sam."
Sam slunk toward the door. Warham stared fiercely at the elder Wright. "And you call yourself a Christian!" he sneered.
At the door--Sam had already disappeared--Mr. Wright paused to say, "I"m going to give Sam a discipline he"ll remember. The girl"s only been foolish. Don"t be harsh with her."
"You d.a.m.ned hypocrite!" shouted Warham. "I might have known what to expect from a man who cut the wages of his hands to pay his church subscription."
But Wright was far too crafty to be drawn. He went on pushing Sam before him.
As the outer door closed behind them Mrs. Wylie appeared. "I want you both to get out of my house as quick as you can," she snapped. "My boarders"ll be coming to dinner in a few minutes."
Warham took his straw hat from the floor beside the chair behind him. "I"ve nothing to do with this girl here. Good day, madam."
And he strode out of the house, slamming the door behind him.
Mrs. Wylie looked at Susan with storming face and bosom. Susan did not see. She was gazing into s.p.a.ce, her face blanched.
"Clear out!" cried Mrs. Wylie. And she ran to the outer door and opened it. "How dare you come into a respectable house!" She wished to be so wildly angry that she would forget the five dollars which she, as a professing Christian in full church standing, would have to pay back if she remembered. "Clear out this minute!" she cried shrilly. "If you don"t, I"ll throw your bundle into the street and you after it."
Susan took up the bundle mechanically, slowly went out on the stoop. The door closed with a slam behind her. She descended the steps, walked a few yards up the street, paused at the edge of the curb and looked dazedly about. Her uncle stood beside her. "Now where are you going?" he said roughly.
Susan shook her head.