But you didn't complain then. I took you with only the
clothes on your back. And I've spent every cent I had on you. And
now I'm spun, you call me a liar."
She said nothing.
"However," he went on, "this is going to come to an end, this is!"
He rose, changed the position of the candle, putting it on a chest
of drawers, and then drew his trunk from the wall, and knelt in
front of it.
She gathered that he was packing his clothes. At first she did not
comprehend his reference to beginning the New Year. Then his
meaning revealed itself. That story to her mother about having
been attacked by ruffians at the bottom of King Street had been an
invention, a ruse to account plausibly for his presence on her
mother's doorstep! And she had never suspected that the story was
not true. In spite of her experience of his lying, she had never
suspected that that particular statement was a lie. What a
simpleton she was!
There was a continual movement in the room for about a quarter of
an hour. Then a key turned in the lock of the trunk.
His head popped up over the foot of the bed. "This isn't a joke,
you know," he said.
She kept silence.
"I give you one more chance.
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