"You slipped out last night and slipped in, without telling me."
"There was no need to tell you."
"There was. Don't contradict me. If your conduct was not underhand, why did you not come and say good-night to me in my study as usual?"
"Because I could not," said Dorinda coldly, and looking straight at her angry parent. "What Rupert told me about you disgusted me too much."
"Rupert!" Mallien rose and pushed back his chair noisily. "You went to see that--that--that scoundrel?"
Dorinda rose in her turn. "He is not a scoundrel."
"He is, I tell you, and I forbid you to see him again."
"As I am engaged to my cousin, I shall see him when and where I please," said the girl deliberately. "Don't try me too far, father, or you will be sorry for it. I am not in the best of tempers this morning."
"You--you--minx!" gasped the angry man, choking with rage. "How dare you address me in that way?"
"And how dare you accuse Rupert of murdering Mr. Leigh," she retorted boldly.