"You've found the mirror," he said. "Well, you look pretty well slicked
up. What happened last night seems to have affected you very little."
"Why should it?" she demanded, defiantly. "I don't intend to brood over
two men that I did not know--two men who attempted to commit murder! Of
course, it was an awful shock, and all that, but I am not going into
hysterics over it. Besides, I didn't kill them."
Lawler abruptly turned away from her and walked to the fireplace. His
face was pale and his eyes were glowing with contempt. She followed him
as far as the table, her lips in a pout--and stood there watching him,
her gaze mocking, defiant.
He finally turned and looked at her, his lips set in straight lines.
"Yes, I killed them, Miss Wharton," he said, evenly. "Do you know why?"
"Because they seemed determined to kill you--because they attacked you,
I suppose," she returned.
"You are wrong, Miss Wharton. There was nothing personal in that
killing. Those men were carrying out a principle of the unscrupulous
system you defended in our talk last night. If there had been no system
those men would not have attempted to cut my fence, I would not have
captured them, and they would not have attempted to kill me. Do you see
what I meant last night when I said the system was evil?"
She held his gaze unflinchingly.
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