He talked as if he had some distant claim on her.
"Something came between ?" she repeated slowly, mockingly.

"That sounds melodramatic indeed.

What was it came between--a coach-and-four, or a grand army ?" "Nothing so stately," he answered, piqued by her tone: "a filibuster and his ragamuffins." "Ragamufins would be appreciated by Monsieur Valmond's followers, spoken at the four corners," she answered.
"Then I'll change it," he said: "a ragamuffin and his filibusters." "The 'ragamuffin' always speaks of his enemies with courtesy, and the filibusters love their leader," was her pointed rejoinder.
"At half a dollar a day," he answered sharply.
"They get that much from His Excellency, do they ?" she asked in real surprise.

"That doesn't look like filibustering, does it ?" "'His Excellency!'" he retorted.

"Why won't you look this matter straight in the face?
Napoleon or no Napoleon, the end of this thing is ruin." "Take care that you don't get lost in the debris," she said bitingly.
"I can take care of myself.