With you
two it is but a romance forgotten in a night. I have pretty nearly
outlived romance."
"You think I will forget easily? That's not flattering."
"All men do. You will even forget my part in the affair, and we
will be better friends than ever."
"Suppose I don't choose to accept what it pleases people to hand
me?"
"My dear Kirk!" She smiled. "You will have to in this case. There
is nothing else to do."
He shook his head. "I hoped we could be friends, Mrs. Cortlandt,
but it seems we can't be."
At this she broke out, imperiously, her eyes flashing.
"I ask nothing you can't give. I have never been denied, and I
won't be denied now. You can't afford to break with me."
"Indeed! Why do you think that?"
"Listen! I've shown you what I can do in a few months. In a year
you can be a great success. That's how big men are made; they know
the short-cuts. You are too inexperienced yet to know what success
and power mean, but you are beginning to learn, and when you have
learned you will thank me for breaking up this foolish romance. I
don't ask you to forget your manhood. I ask nothing. I am content
to wait. You want to become a big man like your father. Well,
Runnels will be out of the way soon; Blakeley amounts to nothing.
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