Afterwards I brought suit against you and
Colonel Grand for an accounting. He was compelled to pay into court
all that was due me as part owner of Van Slye's. I had my own money in
the show. I could not be robbed of that."
"I'm glad you did that. It must have been a nasty dose for him."
"His wife tried to make trouble for me. You heard that?"
"I knew she would, sooner or later."
"You knew it?"
"She wasn't blind."
"But how could she dare to think that I--"
"She knew her husband's reputation, that's all. He was careless about
women." His face went black as a thundercloud. "But he's had his day!"
"Tom," she cried, clutching the lapels of his coat, "you shall not
leave this house until you've promised me to do nothing--"
He shook off her hands. "Don't come any of that, Mary. It won't do any
good. He made me what I was, he would have prostituted you. I was just
bad enough to fall, you were too good to even stumble. Then he landed
me in the pen. Maybe you won't believe it, Mary, but I'd stopped
drinking and was earning fair wages--well, I was tending bar in
Chicago. Barkeepers _have_ to be sober men, you see.
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