Dr. Green rose also and for an instant the two faced one another, eye meeting eye.
"Eleanor," he announced distinctly, "if you ever speak to me like that again, I shall punish you."
Eleanor measured the distance to the door, her eye creeping along the floor. Then she looked back at Dr. Green. He had turned pale, the fine, severe line of his forehead and cheek were outlined plainly against the dark woodwork of the door behind him.
"I am going home," said Eleanor.
Dr. Green stepped between her and the door.
"You can't go like this!" said he earnestly.
"I can go any way I choose," said Eleanor. "You have no authority over me. I know perfectly well what is in your mind when you threaten me. It has been coming to me slowly for a long time, but I was too dull to understand until to-day."
Dr. Green still stood before the outer door. A deep red rose from neck to forehead.
"Your mother and I had very little in common," said he at last. Then, after a long pause, "She has had every comfort, she has not suffered, she has lived exactly the quiet, domestic, undisturbed life she wanted to live."