"He gets money from the people who sell stocks and shares--the jobbers, don't you call them?"
"That's the name, to be sure. So he goes down to the city to watch them making money for him. It's a joyous employment, sure; it won't make him bald!"
Gabrielle did not like the tone of this at all, she bridled instantly.
"I dare say that Mr. Lassett is very well content with it. Don't you think that we might be?"
"Why, certainly, I do. That's just what was in my thoughts just now. If he's so well occupied in London, he won't mind your taking a little holiday with me----!"
"Odd, or even; I mean every word of it. Will you come to Florida on the _Savannah_?"
She hesitated and flushed. There are some tones of a man's voice a woman never mistakes. Let him lie to her, and she may be wholly convinced; deceive her by vain promises, and she will believe him--but let him touch the tonic of a lover's chord, and her instinct is immediately attuned. Gabrielle knew that John Faber was about to make love to her. It came as a bolt from the blue.
"Why should I go to Florida in your yacht? Do you propose to take Maryska there?"
He bent forward and watched her closely. She had been standing by the piano, the aureole of the lamp about her flaxen hair, making pure gold of its silken threads. For an instant she trembled as though some strange chord of her nature had been touched. Then, very slowly, she crossed the room and sat in the chair upon the other side of the fireplace. A warm light played upon her young face now; she was, indeed, a beautiful woman.
"Why do you ask me to be your wife when you know I am engaged to Harry Lassett?"
"Because I believe it is necessary to your happiness and mine."
"Just a guess at reasons then. If I believed it, I would say it is a want of compliment to me. But I don't believe it. You are masterful and would brush aside all obstacles. If I were not a woman with some faith in things, you would do so. I happen to be that--perhaps to my sorrow. No, indeed, I could never be your wife while I believe in the reality of my own life, and the good of what I work for. You must know how very far apart we are."
"In what are we apart? In causes which politicians quarrel upon. I guess that's no reason. Does a man love a woman the less because she believes the earth is flat? If he's a fool--yes. A wise man says, she is only a woman, and loves her the more. Gabrielle, I don't care a cent for your opinions, but I want you very badly."