She sighed, and arranged the folds of her dirty dressing-gown, watching the girl at the same time from the corners of her eyes.
“Lady Gaynor,” Elaine said, haughtily, “I am here to learn what it is you wish to communicate to me. Mind you, I am not to be deceived by this outward complaisance after your bold attempt to humiliate me in the eyes of your servants!”
For a few moments the cool woman of the world was taken completely off her guard.
“My dear Elaine,” she said, aghast, “whatever are you driving at?”
Inwardly she reflected: “I have heard that she has a temper of her own, but it must be crushed! Backed by strong friends and perfect independence, the task might be a difficult one, but now—faugh!”
She eyed the angry girl with a glance that gradually deepened into a smile of bitterest contempt.
“Is it to be open warfare between us, Lady Elaine?” she asked, sneeringly, a baleful light in her deep-set eyes. “As you appear to have taken the initiative, I must accept the impudent challenge!”
“It is as well that we should at once understand each other,” the earl’s daughter replied, icily.
“I agree with you there perfectly, my lady, and for that very reason I sent for you here. My frankness may appear almost brutal, but you yourself have forced me to cease from paltering with words. My lady of Seabright, you must forget that you are the daughter of an earl, and remember that you are practically little better than a pauper upon my bounty.”
“Stop!”