“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.