ANNE. That was a little warning which you were giving us just now?
LATIMER (apologetically). Yes. I thought it better. Leonard is so impetuous. Joseph and Jacob were both amateur champions in their day. Dominic is a very heavy fall-er. He never has to fall on a man twice. If all this is quite understood at the beginning, it makes it so much easier.
ANNE (getting up). Mr. Latimer, I assure you that this is not a sudden freak of fancy, and that I know my own mind. I ask you, as a gentleman, to open the door.
LATIMER (shaking his head). I am afraid it is impossible, Anne. (She shrugs her shoulders and sits down.)
[111]LEONARD (calm for the moment). So we are kept here by force?
LATIMER. Need we insist upon it? Let us rather say that you have postponed your visit to France in order to spend a few days with a friend.
LEONARD. I prefer to say force.
LATIMER (with a bow). I do not dictate your words to you. Your movements for the moment, yes. So let us say “force.”
LEONARD. We are prisoners, in fact?
LATIMER. Within the limits of my house.