Also, the nature of your visit, and the thoroughness of your preparations"-- he swept the dismantled room with his grim but mocking glance--"have already convinced me that the partnership will not be an impossible one." "But I repeat, this is theatrical, and absurd.

You cannot possibly keep me a--a prisoner here, forever!" He looked at her, and suddenly she shrank back from his glance, white to the lips.
"You will not be a prisoner!" "I am quite aware of that!" "You will not be a prisoner, for then you would not be a partner.

The coalition between us must be as silent as it is essential.

But first, permit me!" She still shrank back from his touch, consumed with a new and unlooked-for fear of him.

And all the while she was telling herself that she must remain calm, and make no mistake.
The remembrance came to her, as she stood there, of how she had once thought it possible to approach him in a more indirect and adroit fashion, as the wayward and life-loving Lady Boxspur.