The base woman almost screamed with laughter, as the young girl spoke. She was fairly gloating over her discomfiture, and the two men joined heartily in her merriment.
“Don’t be frightened, birdie!” said one of the men familiarly, as they both stepped inside and closed the door behind them. “We won’t hurt such a pretty creature as you are. No, indeed, we’ve only dropped in to admire your beauty.”
“Yes, and to help eat Carlotta’s welsh rarebit,” said the other, going straight to the woman and kissing her. “So glad you invited us, old girl, make as big a one as you can, for we are both hungry and thirsty.”
“I’m hungry for a bite of those red lips,” said the other fellow, lurching over and putting his hand on Marion’s bare shoulder.
In an instant the young girl sprang back and put the width of the room between them.
“If you dare to touch me I will kill you,” she cried sharply, at the same time snatching a small ivory handled revolver from Carlotta’s dressing table.
“I believe you would,” said the man, staring at her admiringly. “By gad! but you are a beauty! How I would like to tame you!”
“What does ail you, Ila?” said Carlotta, walking toward Marion and speaking very coldly. “Put up that thing, dear, and come and sit down. These gentlemen are my friends—they will not harm you.”
“If you expected them here you had no right to invite me,” said the magnificent girl, hotly. “You have inveigled me here for some evil purpose, Carlotta!”
She did not move from her position nor lay down her weapon, and there was a flash in her eyes that warned the woman to be careful.
“I invited them here to meet you,” Carlotta said, very suavely. “They have admired your beauty and wanted to make your acquaintance, and I must say you are treating them in a very extraordinary manner.”
Marion looked at her coldly and held her head a trifle higher.
“I’m in the habit of choosing whom I shall meet,” she said, quietly, “and I do not care to extend my circle of acquaintances to this class of society.”
“Beware!” cried the now angry woman with a vicious hiss. “I said they were my friends. You had better not insult them!”
As the two women stood glaring at each other the men watched them curiously. Such an extraordinary spectacle had sobered them a little.