Again he raised his voice, that shook with suppressed rage.
“And do you make a habit of doing such things, both of you? Do you open my letters, other people’s letters?”
“Oh, Thurso, don’t be a fool!” said Maud quietly.
His face went very white.
“Maud, I am trying to be courteous,” he said, “under a good deal of provocation. You might make an effort to follow my example.”
“Is it courteous to ask Catherine and me whether we are in the habit of opening other people’s letters?” she asked.
“Your behaviour this afternoon seems to me to warrant my question,” he said.
“No, Thurso, it does not,” said his wife. “I think you know it, too.”
He looked first at the one, then at the other, and his hand moved as if instinctively towards the bottle on the table.
“I don’t want to make a scene with either of you,” he said, “and I don’t want to detain you. I wish to say, however, that I think you behaved quite outrageously. And I require you both to promise never again to act in such a way. You are absolutely unjustified in touching or interfering with my things in this way from whatever motive.”