him then that he could break her
little body to pieces before he could force her to yield; and in his
pride in this temperament, so like his own, he almost uttered the cry of
"Brava!" that hung on his lips. He might have done so if Dorothea had
not found it a convenient moment at which to make all her confessions at
once and have them off her mind. It was best to do it, she thought, now
that her courage was up.

"And, father," she went on, "it may be a good opportunity to tell you
something else. I've decided to marry Mr. Wappinger."

During the brief silence that followed this announcement he had time to
throw the blame for it upon Diane, using the fact as one more argument
against her. Had she taken his suggestions at the beginning, and
suppressed the Wappinger acquaintance, this distressing folly would have
received a definite check: As it was, the odium of putting a stop to it,
which must now fall on him, was but an additional part of the penalty he
had to pay for ever having known her. So be it! He would make good the
uttermost farthing! In doing it he had the same sort of frenzied
satisfaction as in defacing Diane's image in his heart.

"You shall not," he said, at last.

"I don't understand how you're going to stop me."

"I must ask you to be patient--and see. You can make a beginning to-day,
by staying at home from the Thoroughgoods'. That will be enough for the
minute."

Fearing to look any longer into her indignant eyes, he passed on toward
the stables. For some minutes she stood still where he left her, while
the collie gazed up at her, with twitching tail and questioning regard,
as though to ask the meaning of this futile hesitation; but when, at
last, she turned slowly and re-entered the house, one would have said
that the "dainty rogue in porcelain" had been transformed into an
intensely modern little creature made of steel.

She did not go to the Thoroughgoods' that day, nor was any further
reference made to the discussion of the morning. Compunction having
succeeded irritation, with the rapidity not uncommon to men of his
character, Derek was already seeking some way of reaching his end by
gentler means, when a new move on Dorothea's part exasperated him still
further. As he was about to sit down to his luncheon on the following
day, the butler made the announcement that Miss Pruyn had asked him to
inform her father that she had driven over in the pony-cart to Mrs.
Throughgood's, and would not b