"You forget yourself! You forget what is due to the head of the house." "I do not, indeed; Maurice will tell you so!" "Maurice! What has he to do with it ?" "Why, he _is_ the head," slowly.
"True, you are right so far," says Lady Rylton bitterly.

"But I was not alluding to the _actual_ head; I was alluding to the--the _mistress_ of this house." She pauses, and looks with open hatred at the little girl before her.

Tita could have answered her, have told her that her authority was at an end for ever, but by a violent effort she restrains herself.

Tita's naturally warm temper is now at boiling-point.

Still, she puts a restraint upon herself.
"You will understand for the future, I hope," says Lady Rylton, who has lost all control over _her_ temper; "you will, for the future, at all events, I trust, bear yourself with respect towards the mistress of this house." Her manner is so insolent, so unbearable, that Tita's short-lived calm gives way.
"Maurice says I am the mistress here," says she distinctly, clearly.
"You! _you----"_ Lady Rylton advances towards her with a movement that is almost threatening.
"Don't be uneasy about it," says Tita, with a scornful little laugh, and a gesture that destroys the meaning of Lady Rylton's.