Well, well, you are not to be constrained, you say." And the Marquise's laugh was menacing and unpleasant.

"Be not so sure, mademoiselle.

Be not so sure of that.

It may well betide that you shall come to beg upon your knees for this alliance with a man whom you tell me that you hate.

Be not so sure you cannot be constrained." Their eyes met; both women were white to the lips, but it was curbed passion in the one, and deadly fear in the other; for what the Dowager's words left unsaid her eyes most eloquently conveyed.