She lost no time, but aroused him at once, shaking him by the shoulder, and in cold, curt tones ordered him “to rise and dress for the street, and to go with her.”

[Illustration:  Clara Morris in the 1st Act of “Camille"]

But he objected, asking:  “Why the deuce he should go out that bitter night?  And was she a fool, or did she take him for one?”

Upon which she had so savagely ordered him “to get on his boots, his coat, and overcoat” that the sleepiness had vanished from his sharp eyes, and he had exclaimed, “What is it, Kate? what’s happened to you?”

And she answered:  “I’ve had a blow—­no, don’t reach for your gun.  I don’t mean that—­but, Jim, it hurts. (Here, let me tie that for you.) I’ve had a blow straight at the heart, and a woman gave it—­God bless her! (Can’t you brush your hair up over that thin place?  Jim—­why, Jim, upon my soul, you’re grey!) Oh, hurry! here, take your fur coat—­you’ll need it.  Come now—­no, I won’t tell till we’re outside this house.  Come—­on the quiet, now—­come,” and taking him by the arm she dragged him down the hall and stairs, and so outside the front door.

There she stopped.  The man shivered at the cold, but kept his gleaming eyes fastened on her white face, “Well?” he said.

She stood looking up at the glory of the sky above her, where the stars glittered with extraordinary brilliancy, and in an abstracted tone she observed, “There’s the ‘Dipper.’”

He watched her still silently; she went on:  “Do you remember, Jim, when I taught school down in Westbury, how we used to look at the ‘Dipper’ together, because you didn’t dare speak—­of anything else?  You got seven dollars a week, then, and I—­oh, Jim! why in God’s name didn’t you speak?  Then I might never have come to this.”  She struck the lintel of the door passionately, but went right on:  “Yes—­yes, I’m going to tell you, and you’ve got to make a decision, right here, now!  You’ll think I’m mad, I know; but see here now, I’ve got that woman’s dying eyes looking into mine; I’ve got that woman’s voice in my ears, and her words burnt into my living heart!  I’ll tell you by and by, perhaps, what those words are, but first, my proposal:  you are free to accept it, you are free to refuse it, or you are free to curse me for a drivelling idiot; but look you here, man, if you laugh at it, I swear I’ll kill you!  Now, will you help me out of this awful life?  Jim, will you get into that carriage and take me to the nearest minister and marry me, or will you take this ‘wad’ and go down that street and out of my life forever?”

In the pause that followed they looked hard into one another’s eyes.  Then the man answered in six words.  Pushing away the hand that offered him a great tight-rolled mass of paper money, he said, “Put that away—­now, come on,” and they entered the carriage, and drove to the home of a minister.  There a curious thing happened.  They had answered satisfactorily the reverend gentleman’s many questions before he quite realized who the woman was.  When he did recognize her, he refused to perform the ceremony, and with words of contemptuous condemnation literally drove them from the house, and with his ecclesiastical hand banged the door after them.