Heyton swiftly withdrew his eyes, in which astonishment, amazement, and
something nearly approaching contempt, had shown, and Dene laughed with
bitter scorn.
"You can't understand that a man who has once loved a woman loves her
for always----"
He paused; for, at that moment, it was not the face of his old love, the
woman who had jilted him for a better match, that rose before him, but
that of the girl at Brown's Buildings who had stepped in between him and
death, talked him back to reason, given him her last five-pound note.
"--And that even if he has ceased to love her, he'll stand a lot to save
her from trouble; that he'll make any kind of sacrifice to keep disgrace
and shame from her. That's how I feel towards Miriam. I thought of you
being dragged off by a couple of bobbies to quod, and of how she would
suffer; and I remembered--which was a precious lucky thing for you--that
there was no one to suffer on my account. I thanked God--for the first
time--I'd no one belonging to me. That thought made it easier for me to
do what I am doing."
He tossed the end of the cigarette into the fire.
"I am going to make a bolt for it; and I looked in just to say a few
words to you, Heyton. I'm standing between you and a complete bust-up.
I'm doing it for Miriam's sake, not yours; and I want you to bear this
in mind: that if ever I hear of your treating her badly--oh, you needn't
look so virtuously indignant; I know your sort; you'd treat her badly
enough presently, if you hadn't a check on you. And I'm going to be that
check. Let me hear even a whisper of your acting on the cross with her,
and I'll come back, if it's from the other end of the world, to denounce
you. I've proofs enough. Oh, I'm not such a fool as you think; and, if
you don't treat Miriam fairly, I'll show you up, and probably give you,
into the bargain, the thrashing that's owing to you."
"You needn't talk about Miriam like that," said her husband, sullenly,
and with an affectation of righteous resentment. "I'm fond of her; I
shouldn't have done--well, what I have done, if I hadn't been. You
needn't insult me."
"My good man, I couldn't," said Dene. "One word more and, you'll be
relieved to hear, I'm off. For some reason or other the police, the
detectives, have been slow, or have failed to track me."