But he must pay for his present
stupidity.
"You wrong me," he answered, with a quick burst of feeling. "You are most
unfair. You punish me because I do my public duty; and because I would do
anything in the world for you, you punish me the more. Have you forgotten
two years ago? Is it so easy to your hand, a true and constant
admiration, a sincere homage, that you throw it aside like--"
"Monsieur De la Riviere," she said, with exasperating deliberation, her
eyes having a dangerous light, "your ten minutes is more than up. And it
has been quite ten minutes too long."
"If I were a filibuster"--he answered bitterly and suggestively.
She interrupted him, saying, with a purring softness: "If you had only
courage enough--"
He waved his hand angrily. "If I had, I should hope you would prove a
better friend to me than you are to this man."
"Ah, in what way do I fail towards 'this man'?"
"By encouraging his downfall. See--I know I am taking my life in my
hands, as it were, but I tell you this thing will do you harm when it
goes abroad."
She felt the honesty of his words, though they angered her. He seemed to
impute some personal interest in Valmond.
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