to have brought it upon us, he and I, by my refusal to discuss
with you at such a crisis the question of my disposition of a particular
item of my property. I've only to look at you, for that matter," Lord
Theign continued--always with a finer point and a higher consistency as
his rehearsal of his wrongs broadened--"to have my inquiry, as it seems
to me, eloquently answered. You flounced away from poor John, you took,
as he tells me, 'his head off,' just to repay me for what you chose to
regard as my snub on the score of your challenging my entertainment of
a possible purchaser; a rebuke launched at me, practically, in the
presence of a most inferior person, a stranger and an intruder, from
whom you had all the air of taking your cue for naming me the great
condition on which you'd gratify my hope. Am I to understand, in other
words,"--and his lordship mounted to a climax--"that you sent us
about our business because I failed to gratify _your_ hope: that of my
knocking under to your sudden monstrous pretension to lay down the law
for my choice of ways and means of raising, to my best convenience, a
considerable sum of money? You'll be so good as to understand, once
for all, that I recognise there no right of interference from any
quarter--and also to let that knowledge govern your behaviour in my
absence."

Lady Grace had thus for some minutes waited on his words--waited even as
almost with anxiety for the safe conduct he might look to from some of
the more extravagant of them. But he at least felt at the end--if it
was an end--all he owed them; so that there was nothing for her but to
accept as achieved his dreadful felicity. "You're very angry with
me, and I hope you won't feel me simply 'aggravating' if I say that,
thinking everything over, I've done my best to allow for that. But I
_can_ answer your question if I do answer it by saying that my discovery
of your possible sacrifice of one of our most beautiful things didn't
predispose me to decide in favour of a person--however 'backed' by
you--for whose benefit the sacrifice was to take place. Frankly," the
girl pushed on, "I did quite hate, for the moment, everything that might
make for such a mistake; and took the darkest view, let me also confess,
of every one, without exception, connected with it I interceded with
you, earnestly, for our precious picture, and you wouldn't on any terms
_have_ my intercession. On top of that Lord John blundered in, without
timelin