Then she started, a little social smile came on her face, for a moment she looked the pleasant hostess.

For a moment she bent graciously, as if everyone were welcome and delightful.

And then immediately the shadow came back, a sullen, eagle look was on her face, she glanced from under her brows like a sinister creature at bay, hating them all.
'Mother,' called Diana, a handsome girl a little older than Winifred, 'I may have wine, mayn't I ?' 'Yes, you may have wine,' replied the mother automatically, for she was perfectly indifferent to the question.
And Diana beckoned to the footman to fill her glass.
'Gerald shouldn't forbid me,' she said calmly, to the company at large.
'All right, Di,' said her brother amiably.

And she glanced challenge at him as she drank from her glass.
There was a strange freedom, that almost amounted to anarchy, in the house.

It was rather a resistance to authority, than liberty.