Turning to Mrs.Brant, who was still half struggling in the strong grip of her husband, he said,-- "Any compunction I may have had in misleading you by accepting your invitation here I dismissed after I had entered this house.

And I trust," he added, turning to Clarence sternly, "I leave you the master of it!" As the gate closed behind him, Clarence locked it.

When his wife turned upon him angrily, he said quietly,-- "I have no intention of restraining your liberty a moment after our interview is over, but until then I do not intend to be disturbed." She threw herself disdainfully back in her chair, her hands clasped in her lap in half-contemptuous resignation, with her eyes upon her long slim arched feet crossed before her.

Even in her attitude there was something of her old fascination which, however, now seemed to sting Clarence to the quick.
"I have nothing to say to you in regard to what has just passed in this house, except that as long as I remain even nominally its master it shall not be repeated.

Although I shall no longer attempt to influence or control your political sympathies, I shall not allow you to indulge them where in any way they seem to imply my sanction.