For the first time Sir Rupert hesitated, and let his hand fall without ringing the bell.
"You fiend!" he said, in a cold fury. "Having made my life miserable before, you now come to do so again. But I knew I was never safe from your malice. Dombrain, to whom I told all your vile conduct, said you would come again."
"He said that? Dombrain said that?"
"Yes."
"And he is a fit judge of my conduct!" she burst out in passionate anger. "Do you know who he is? Do you know what he was? A convict--an embezzler--a man who has served his term in prison."
"My solicitor--Mr. Dombrain?" he said, incredulously.
"Mr. Dombrain!" she scoffed, sneeringly. "Mr. Damberton is his real name, and it was by knowing what he was and what he is, that I forced him to receive me as your daughter's companion. I would have spared him had he spared me, but now--well, you know the worst of him."
"Yes, and I know the worst of you," he said, fiercely. "Oh, you played your cards well. But I will turn you out of my house, and to-morrow I will expose Dombrain or Damberton's real position to all the world."
"You can do what you like about him, but I stay here."
"You go, and at once."