[_Taking her two hands._] Sit down!
[_She sits in the arm-chair, half forced by him._
JINNY. _Why_ did you send for Ruth Chester to come back?
AUSTIN. I have told you before, I am trying to help Miss Chester.
JINNY. "_Ruth!_"
AUSTIN. I am trying to help her in a great and serious trouble.
JINNY. Why did you send for her to come back? What's the trouble?
AUSTIN. I've told you before I can't tell you.
JINNY. You daren't tell me, and you haven't even the face to tell
another lie about it!
AUSTIN. If you say another word, I shall _hate_ you! If you _won't_
control _yourself_, I must make you, as well as keep my own sane
balance. You have insulted my love for you to-night as you've never done
before; you've struck at my own ideal of _you_; you've almost done, in a
word, what I warned you you might do--_kill_ the love I have for you!
JINNY. [_Frightened._] Jack!
AUSTIN. I mean what I say!
JINNY. [_In tears._] That--that you--you don't love me?
AUSTIN. That is not what I said, but I tell you now that since I first
began to care for you, never have I loved you so little as I do
to-night.
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