Dorothy had turned very white. She looked at Garrison almost wildly.
"That's exactly what he said before," she said, "when he pushed me from the train and ran away."
"What does it mean?" said Garrison, tense with emotion. "What have you done to me, Dorothy? He isn't your husband, after all?"
Dorothy sank once more in the chair. She looked at Garrison appealingly.
"I married him," she moaned. "He's crazy!"
Garrison, too, sat down. His pistol he dropped in his pocket.
"I was afraid," she confessed. "I thought you wouldn't consent to be--to be--what you have been."
"Of course I wouldn't," Garrison responded. "What have I got myself into? Why did you do it?"
"I had to," she answered weakly. "Please don't scold me now--even if you have to desert me." Her voice broke in one convulsive sob, but she mastered herself sharply. "I'll go," she added, struggling to her feet. "I didn't mean to get you into all this----"
"Dorothy, sit down," he interrupted, rising instantly and placing his hand on her shoulder. "I didn't mean it--didn't mean what I said. I shan't desert you. I love you--I love you, Dorothy!"
She turned one hurt look upon him, then sank on the desk to cover her face.
"Oh, don't, don't, don't!" she said. "You haven't any right----"
"Forgive me," he pleaded. "I didn't intend to let you know. I didn't intend to use my position for anything like that. Forgive me--forget what I said--and let me serve you as I have before, with no thought of anything but--earning the money, my fee."
He turned away, striking his fist in his palm, and went across to the window.
For nearly five minutes neither spoke. Dorothy, torn by emotions too great to be longer restrained, had controlled her sobs almost immediately, but she had not dared to raise her eyes. She sat up at last, and with gaze averted from the figure against the square of light, composed herself as best she might.
"What is there we can do?" she said at last. "If you wish to be released from your--your position----"
"We won't talk of that," he interrupted, still looking out on the roofs below. "I'm in this to stay--till you dismiss me and bid me forget it--forget it and you--forever. But I need your help."
"I have made it very hard, I know," she said. "If I've acted deceitfully, it was the only way I thought I could do."