第20章

The bolt shot back."All right.And please unhook my dress--there's a dear."Susan opened the door, stood on the threshold, all her dark passion in her face."Ruth!" she cried.

Ruth had turned her back, in readiness for the service the need of which had alone caused her to unbolt the door.At that swift, fierce ejaculation she started, wheeled round.At sight of that wild anger she paled."Why, Susie!" she gasped.

"I've found you out!" raged Susan."You're trying to steal him from me--you and Aunt Fanny.It isn't fair! I'll not stand it!""What _are_ you talking about?" cried Ruth."You must have lost your senses.""I'll not stand it," Susan repeated, advancing threateningly "He loves me and I love him."Ruth laughed."You foolish girl! Why, he cares nothing about you.

The idea of your having your head turned by a little politeness!""He loves me he told me so.And I love him.I told him so.He's mine! You shan't take him from me!""He told you he loved you?"

Ruth's eyes were gleaming and her voice was shrill with hate.

"He told you _that_?"

"Yes--he did!"

"I don't believe you."

"We love each other," cried the dark girl."He came to see _me_.

You've got Arthur Sinclair.You shan't take him away!"The two girls, shaking with fury, were facing each other, were looking into each other's eyes."If Sam Wright told you he loved you," said Ruth, with the icy deliberateness of a cold-hearted anger, "he was trying to--to make a fool of you.You ought to be ashamed of yourself._We_'re trying to save you.""He and I are engaged!" declared Susan."You shan't take him--and you can't! He _loves_ me!""Engaged!" jeered Ruth."Engaged!" she laughed, pretending not to believe, yet believing.She was beside herself with jealous anger."Yes--we'll save you from yourself.You're like your mother.You'd disgrace us--as she did.""Don't you dare talk that way, Ruth Warham.It's false--_false_!

My mother is dead--and you're a wicked girl.""It's time you knew the truth," said Ruth softly.Her eyes were half shut now and sparkling devilishly."You haven't got any name.You haven't got any father.And no man of any position would marry you.As for Sam----" She laughed contemptuously."Do you suppose Sam Wright would marry a girl without a name?"Susan had shrunk against the door jamb.She understood only dimly, but things understood dimly are worse than things that are clear."Me?" she muttered."Me? Oh, Ruth, you don't mean that.""It's true," said Ruth, calmly."And the sooner you realize it the less likely you are to go the way your mother did."Susan stood as if petrified.

"If Sam Wright comes hanging round you any more, you'll know how to treat him," Ruth went on."You'll appreciate that he hasn't any respect for you--that he thinks you're someone to be trifled with.And if he talked engagement, it was only a pretense.Do you understand?"The girl leaning in the doorway gazed into vacancy.After a while she answered dully, "I guess so."Ruth began to fuss with the things on her bureau.Susan went into her room, sat on the edge of the bed.A few minutes, and Ruth, somewhat cooled down and not a little frightened, entered.

She looked uneasily at the motionless figure.Finally she said, "Susie!"No answer.

More sharply, "Susie!"

"Yes," said Susan, without moving.

"You understand that I told you for your own good? And you'll not say anything to mother or father? They feel terribly about it, and don't want it ever mentioned.You won't let on that you know?""I'll not tell," said Susan.

"You know we're fond of you--and want to do everything for you?"No answer.

"It wasn't true--what you said about Sam's making love to you?""That's all over.I don't want to talk about it.""You're not angry with me, Susie? I admit I was angry, but it was best for you to know--wasn't it?""Yes," said Susan.

"You're not angry with me?"

"No."

Ruth, still more uneasy, turned back into her own room because there was nothing else to do.She did not shut the door between.

When she was in her nightgown she glanced in at her cousin.The girl was sitting on the edge of the bed in the same position.

"It's after midnight," said Ruth."You'd better get undressed."Susan moved a little."I will," she said.

Ruth went to bed and soon fell asleep.After an hour or so she awakened.Light was streaming through the open connecting door.

She ran to it, looked in.Susan's clothes were in a heap beside the bed.Susan herself, with the pillows propping her, was staring wide-eyed at the ceiling.It was impossible for Ruth to realize any part of the effect upon her cousin of a thing she herself had known for years and had taken always as a matter of course; she simply felt mildly sorry for unfortunate Susan.

"Susie, dear," she said gently, "do you want me to turn out the light?""Yes," said Susan.

Ruth switched off the light and went back to bed, better content.She felt that now Susan would stop her staring and would go to sleep.Sam's call had been very satisfactory.Ruth felt she had shown off to the best advantage, felt that he admired her, would come to see _her_ next time.And now that she had so arranged it that Susan would avoid him, everything would turn out as she wished."I'll use Arthur to make him jealous after a while--and then--I'll have things my own way." As she fell asleep she was selecting the rooms Sam and she would occupy in the big Wright mansion--"when we're not in the East or in Europe."