"You must excuse me."
"But why should you want to hide the truth from me? Do you know what you force me to think?--that you paid the debt yourself!"
"Well, I didn"t."
"Not some of it?"
There was silence, then--"For heaven"s sake, Doris, let the matter rest.
Forget about it!"
"Forget! What do you think I"m made of? ... Oh, I"m beginning to wonder whether Christopher"s diamonds have brought me any real happiness."
Controlling himself he said: "You know they have, for your father"s sake alone--"
"Even so," she said, and halted.
"Doris," he whispered with pa.s.sionate bitterness, "I will say it only once: it"s rotten to be poor. That"s all. Now let"s--"
"And I think I will say it all my life," she answered almost inaudibly; "... it"s rotten to be rich, and I"m afraid we shall be late for tea."
They were,--very late.