Bought and Paid For; From the Play of George Broadhurst Part 41

Please dearie, please!"

"You said that you had _bought_ and _paid_ for me!" she repeated icily, with emphasis on the last words.

"But, sweetheart--"

Bitterly she went on:

"It isn't the first time you have said it either. And the dreadful thing about it is--that it's true!"

"But it isn't true," he protested.

She half turned away from him, unwilling that he should see the tears that had started to her eyes.

"Yes--it is true enough," she said half hysterically. "If you hadn't been rich--I should not have married you--because I didn't feel towards you--then--as a girl should feel towards the man she is to marry."

"Virginia!" he cried, making a stride forward.

She drew back as she replied coldly:

"You know it, and last night you told me of it."

"But last night--"

"And so the fact remains that you did buy me!" Pointing to the boxes of jewels heaped high on the table, she went on: "And these are the things you bought me with! These are the things you bought me with--I give them all back to you!"

"Virginia!" he cried appealingly.

Calmly she went on:

"You bought me, but you didn't buy my self-respect. And no matter what happens I am going to keep that."

"It's the last thing in the world that I'd have you lose," he said with some show of emotion.

"Then why do you try to rob me of it? Why did you come to me--as you did last night--and insult and degrade me?"

"I'm sorry, dear."

"So you have told me before! And I've cried--and suffered--and forgiven you--and prayed that it would never happen again. And now, dear, I'm not going to cry any more, and it won't happen again."

He looked at her inquiringly--almost apprehensively.

"You--mean?" he stammered. She sank into a chair a little distance from him. The tears had disappeared from her eyes. She had recovered her self-possession. It was only a matter of business which they had to discuss now. Calmly she continued:

"I mean that we have got to have a definite and explicit understanding. I refuse to remain in a position where you can humiliate me as you have done. What must I think of myself if I do? I ask you, Robert, what must I think of myself?" He said nothing and after a short pause she went on: "A good woman must retain her respect for herself--she must know in her heart that she is sweet and fine; if she doesn't what is there left for her? There are just two ways in which I can keep my self respect--and I'm going to keep it--two and only two. One is this--you must promise me now that you will never touch drink again."

He was silent for a moment as if weighing the exact meaning of her words and their significance; then gravely he replied:

"I'm not sure that I could keep such a promise. I'll agree though to try--"

She shook her head.

"No, dear--that won't do. How many times already have you agreed to try and how many times have you failed? You can stop if you wish. You are not a weakling. You're a big man, a strong man. You can stop if you wish and you must promise me that you will or--I--"

"Or what?" he demanded.

"Or I shall take the only other course open to me and--leave you."

"Leave me!"

"Yes."

He looked at her curiously as if trying to see if she really meant what she said. He could hardly believe that she was serious. Rising, he went towards her, and bending over her said gravely:

"Let me get this straight. You say I must promise that I will never take another drink or you'll leave me. Is that it?"

"Yes."

"Your mind is made up?"

"Yes."

"Then it's an ultimatum?"

"Yes."

"And you want an answer here and now?"

"Yes."

"Very well, then, you shall have it. I won't promise."

His answer came upon her like a shock. She had expected that he would agree to anything, but he actually defied her.

"Robert!" she cried despairingly.

"I can't be driven and I won't be bullied," he said doggedly. "No man, by holding a revolver to my head, can force me to do anything I don't want to do, nor can any woman either--not even you."

As he spoke, her face grew a little paler, the lines about her mouth deepened. If that was the way he chose to look upon their relations, the sooner the end came the better.

"Very well," she said coldly.

She had turned as if to go to her room when he again spoke:

"Besides, there has to be a head of every family Just as there had to be a head of every business, and so long as I have any family I am going to be the head of it! If I had a partner and he came to me and said 'Do this thing or I quit you,' whether the thing was right or wrong, I'd say, 'Go ahead. Quit.' Because if I didn't, from that moment on, he, not I, would be the boss! So it is with us."

"Then I--am to--go," she said slowly.

"That is for you to say. But if you do go, remember that it is of your own volition. I want you to stay--you understand?"