"Call him Nebuchadnezzar, or Satan, or any name you like in your own room, but in my presence——"
"His name is always David. I was going to remind you that Ducie has been a general servant in the house for many months. She has assisted your chambermaid, helped McNab in the kitchen, and Jepson about the table. I think she has been the most effective maid in the house."
"She may have been chambermaid, cook, and butler rolled into one, but she is not wanted here, and the sooner she finds her way back to Kendal the better every one will like it."
Then Theodora quietly gathered the silks with which she was working, and without noise or hurry left the room. She heard her mother-in-law's scornful laugh, and her husband's angry voice as she closed the door, but she allowed neither to detain her in an atmosphere so highly charged with hatred and opposition.
In about an hour Robert strode into her parlor, and with a lowering face and peevish voice asked: "Why did you go away?"
"There was no further reason for my presence, and more than one reason why it was better for me to go away."
"It is evident you feel no interest in the curtailment of my expenses."
"I am sure that curtailment is not necessary. You gave your shareholders a dividend of ten-per-cent a short time ago, and you are always complaining that the business is too large for you to carry alone. And I do not see that there is the smallest curtailment in your personal expenses."
"Pray what have you to do with my personal expenses?"
"I speak of them because I personally have no expenses from which to draw conclusions."