"I do!"

"Indeed! WHO ARE YOU?"

The fierceness with which he said this made his sister-in-law quail.
She perceived that he was terribly in earnest as he repeated his
question in a tone very unusual with him, and she meekly replied:

"You know well enough who I am, your late wife's sister."

"My wife _had no sister_!"

The look he gave as he said this fairly frightened her. She had seen
a good deal of life, and had in her time met with all kinds of men
and women, but never till now did she fear either. She began to see
that she had roused a desperate man, and that, legally, she had no
hold on him, neither status in society; moreover that she had got
entangled in the meshes of her own net, and that only the dread of
exposure would prevent D'Alton from prosecuting her for libel. Not
knowing what to do, she remained mute, her eyes fixed firmly on the
ground. At length Mr. D'Alton broke the silence: "You have
evidently had an object," he said, "in circulating these reports. If
your object be to extort money out of me, you will find it more to
your interest to remain silent." With these words he drew from his
pocket a roll of bank bills, and laid them on the table near his
companion; but she, growing livid with rage, refused to touch them,
promising to expose him and his family before all the world.

D'Alton had not calculated on this, and was for a time taken a
little aback. His last card, however, was not yet played; and,