_Are_ you the man in the case ?" "There is no case," he said coolly.
"Then why worry about me ?" He folded his arms, sullenly at bay; yet had no premonition of what to expect from her.
"You were very brutal to me," she said at length.
"I know it; and I did not intend to be.

The words came." "You had me at your mercy; and showed me little--a very little at first.
Afterward, none." "The words came," he repeated; "I'm sick with self-contempt, I tell you." She set her white-gloved elbow on the window sill and rested her chin in her palm.
"That--money," she said with an effort.

"You set--some--aside for me." "Half," he nodded calmly.
"Why ?" He was silent.
"_Why_?
I did not ask for it?
There was nothing in the--the legal proceedings to lead you to believe that I desired it; was there ?" "No." "Well, then," her breath came unsteadily, "what was there in _me_ to make you think I would accept it ?" He did not reply.
"Answer me.

This is the time to answer me." "The answer is simple enough," he said in a low voice.

"Together we had made a failure of partnership.