asked me
earlier."

"What are you going to do?"

There was a new note in his voice--a hint of mastery. She resented it
instantly.

"That is my affair," she said calmly, beginning to pour out the tea.

He looked at her as if he scarcely believed his ears. He was silent for
some seconds, and very quietly she turned to him and handed him a cup.

He took it from her and instantly set it aside.

"Be good enough to answer my question!" he said.

She heard the gathering sternness in his tone, and, tea-cup in hand, she
laughed. A curious recklessness possessed her that night. She felt as if
she had the strength to fling off the bands of tyranny. But her heart
had begun to beat very fast. She realized that this was no mere
skirmish.

"Why should I answer you?" she asked, helping herself to some more cream
with a hand that was slightly unsteady in spite of her effort to
control it. "I do not see the necessity."

"I think you do," he rejoined.

Nina said no more. She swallowed her tea, nibbled at a wafer with a
species of deliberate trifling calculated to proclaim aloud her utter
fearlessness, and at length rose to go.

In that moment her husband stepped forward and took her by the
shoulders.

"Before you leave this room, please," he said quietly.

She drew back from him in a blaze of indignant rebellion.

"I will not!" she said. "Let me go instantly!"

His hold tightened. His face was more grim than she had ever seen it.
His eyes seemed to beat hers down. Yet when he spoke he did not raise
his voice.

"I have borne a good deal from you, Nina," he said. "But there is a
limit to every man's endurance."

"You married me against my will," she panted. "Do you think I have not
had anything to endure, too?"

"That accusation is false," he said. "You married me of your own accord.
Without my money, you would have passed me by with scorn. You know it."

She began to tremble violently.

"Do you deny that?" he insisted pitilessly.

"At least you pressed me hard," she said.

"I did," he replied. "I saw you meant to sell yourself. And I did not
mean you to go to any scoundrel."

"So you bought me for yourself?" she said, with a wild laugh.

"I did." Wingarde's voice trembled a little. "I paid your price," he
said, "and I have taken very little for it. You have offered me still
less. Now, Nina, understand! This is not going on for ever. I simply
will not bear it. You are my wife, sworn to obey me--and obey me y