He offered no reply to this until they had reached the street and he had called a taxi.
On their way to his apartment he re-opened the subject rather bluntly, remarking that life was not worth living at the price she had mentioned.
“That is the accepted Christian theory,” she replied coolly, “but circumstances alter things.”
“Oh, yes, they do. If one is already damned, what difference does anything else make?”
He asked, sarcastically, whether she considered herself already damned.
She did not reply for a few moments, then she said, in a quick, breathless way, that souls have been entrapped through ignorance of evil. And asked him if he did not believe it.
She shook her head. “You couldn’t understand,” she said. “But I’ve made up my mind to one thing; even if my soul has perished, my body shall not die for a long, long time. I mean to live,” she added. “I shall not let my body be slain! They shall not steal life from me, whatever they have done to my soul——”
“What in heaven’s name are you talking about?” he exclaimed. “Do you actually believe in soul-snatchers and life-stealers?”
She seemed sullen, her profile turned to him, her eyes on the brilliantly lighted avenue up which they were speeding. After a while: “I’d rather live decently and respectably if I can,” she said. “That is the natural desire of any girl, I suppose. But if I can’t, nevertheless I shall beat off death at any cost. And whatever the price of life is, I shall pay it. Because I am absolutely determined to go on living. And if I can’t provide the means I’ll have to let some man do it, I suppose.”
“It’s a good thing it was I who found you when you were out of a job,” he remarked coldly.
“I hope so,” she said. “Even in the beginning I didn’t really believe you meant to be impertinent”—a tragic smile touched her lips—“and I was almost sorry——”
“No, my mind is untouched. It’s my soul that’s gone.... Do you know I was very hungry when you spoke to me? The management wouldn’t advance anything, and my last money went for my room.... Last Monday I had three dollars to face the future—and no job. I spent the last of it to-night on violets, orange juice and cakes. My furs and my gold bag remain. I can go two months more on them. Then it’s a job or——.” She shrugged and buried her nose in her violets.