“Well, sir, what is it you want of me?”
“I wish you to give up any acquaintance which exists between you and young Houston.”
“Indeed!”
There was a sneer in her voice, but he did not notice it.
“I desire that you will never walk with or speak to him again.”
“And turn hermit or nun—which would please you best?”
“Neither would please me. You know how well I like society, and I know how well you can adorn it. Let this be happily and worthily, and I ask no more. Look around these rooms. How often you have seen them filled with the best and highest of the land. I wish nothing different in my married life. But no disreputable man shall ever cross my threshold or speak to my wife; of that be assured.”
“Indeed, you begin early to play the censor over me and my friends.”
There was something in her voice now that hardened her lover.
“The woman I marry must be so far above suspicion that censorship can not reach her,” he answered, almost sternly.