'Why did you try to get away?' he asked almost threateningly.
'Well, I'm quiet enough now,' she pleaded with a low laugh.
His self-complacency was restored; the buffets of the evening were forgotten. He remembered how he had served Trix Trevalla; he forgot what that pleasure had entailed on himself. Now he was showing this girl that she was no match for him. He held her in his grasp while he smoked.
'This is rather dull for me,' suggested Connie after a while. 'I hope you like it, Mr. Chance?'
'It'll last just as long as I do like it,' he told her.
A bell sounded; they heard the hall door opened and voices in the hall.
'Listen! Let me go! No, you must. It's papa and mamma.'
'Never mind. Stay where you are.'
'What do you mean? Nonsense! I must——!' In genuine alarm Connie wrenched herself away, ran to the door, listened, gave Beaufort a wise nod, and sat down opposite to him. He laughed at her across the table.
After a pause a footman came in.