Archie was leaping upstairs, his heart pounding so fast that he was barely breathing.

Of course he could stop this Legan, but the mere thought that the latter would grin condescendingly, holding Candy in his hands, while Archie would just be standing in front of them… Oh no, it was unbearable. He would deal with him later.

Cornwell was standing at the door, not daring to knock. How is that possible?... He's kicked this rat's ass for so many times, and each time the rat would crawl away whining, for so many times he's… Oh, whatever! Things have changed, now Legan is the winner, he is with her! With… her!

Now he's gonna boast with his trophy, his supremacy… He's gonna go everywhere with her, like her man, and Archie will just sit with him at the same table, pretending to be happy for them. How can that be? What filthy schemes did he use to win her favor? What sinister insinuations? What plots and threats?

…There was a knock at the door, and Candy asked:

"Who's there?"

"It's me."

"Archie!" Candy flung the door open, and the man came in.

Cornwell closed the door and walked deeper into her flat. Miss White didn't look into his eyes and didn't notice anything strange. But Archie's brown eyes were burning with a wild flame – the flame of jealousy.

When the door closed, the young people were left… alone.

Archibald looked around carefully, and all the words that he had been repeating in his mind had flown away.

"Did… did he buy you all these?" the man squeezed out of himself with effort.

Candy looked up, and suddenly got scared.

"These… what? Who… bought?" she started mumbling.

Cornwell was breathing heavily and cast an unseeing look around the room.

"You know who…" he uttered.

"That's my own business," Candy jerked up her nose.

"Your own business?!" Archie screamed and, as if some string in his soul had broken, started wrecking the room. He threw the bear off the sofa and broke the vases with Neil's flowers.

"Did he buy you with all this, Candy? Did he buy you with this… frippery?"

"Archie, please, don't do it, don't touch anything!" the girl yelled frightfully, trying to hold rampageous Cornwell down. But despite his elegance and outer tenderness, he was quite strong, and when he jerked his arm trying to shake Candy's grip off, she bounced back like a doll.

"Archie!" miss White put her trembling hands to her face and watched his madness without saying anything else. He was no longer a friend – he was a jealousy-stricken man, and she was afraid of him.

Cornwell stopped for a while, cast a blurred look around the annihilated room; his hair, always neatly combed, were now tousled and wild, his mouth was skewed, and his eyes were blazing with unnatural fire. He looked at Candy.

"What? Why are you looking at me like this? You think I'm disgusting?" he came closer, and the girl backed away by instinct. "You think I'm disgusting, and he's not?!"

Archibald grasped the frightened girl by the shoulders and shook her.

"I'm disgusting, and he's not?! Tell me!"

There was a silence, interrupted only by Candy's gulpy sobbing and Archie's heavy breathing.

"DAMN IT!" he screamed again and scurried about the room like a wounded beast. "Don't you understand he has… girlfriends like you all around Chicago? He's gonna make a slut of you, if he hasn't yet!"

Candy began to retreat to the front door, but Cornwell stood in her way. Now he spoke in a low voice, almost whispering, and tears glimmered in his eyes:

"Don't you… don't you really understand that he gives such… presents to everyone? Every one of his bitch. He'll play with you and throw you out, like a thing, like an old toy…"

"He's not like this! You don't know him!"

"Oh, there you go! Now you're defending him!" croaked Archibald, hanging over the girl. "Trust me, I know him too well! Unluckily, he's my relative, and I've watched his behavior quite often… What has he done to gain your trust?"

Miss White didn't answer.

"Maybe he did something very noble? Repented his sins? What has he done, what?"

Again, silence.

"Do you love him, Candy?" the man asked the question he was most afraid of.

"I… don't know yet… We're just having a good time…" the girl responded almost against her will and looked away.

"A good time, huh?" Archie breathed out and started to walk around the room. "Dammit!" he hit the wall with his fist. "A good time!"

"Archie… Stop it!" Candy pulled herself together. "You… you'd better leave. If you… if you leave now, I will forget everything you've just said."

She looked at Cornwell expectantly. But he only got gloomier and ostentatiously sat down on a chair.

"Okay, I see your point. You want to get rid of me, because he's going to come right now. Alright, I'll wait. I'll give him a warm welcome."

No matter how hard the girl asked and begged him to leave, he wouldn't. He didn't believe that Candy was waiting for Annie to come, not Neil.