"My father!"
"Yes, Duke, I have been to see him again. He was quite kind. Sit still and I will tell you everything."
And she told him though she saw his face grow stern and angry.
"You had no business to do it," he said, when she finished. "Can't you even leave me to manage my own affairs? I didn't interfere with yours when you broke away and set up on your own, did I?"
"You have been very good to me, Marmaduke," she replied, with a catch in her voice, "and I've tried to be as good to you."
The memory of many a helping hand, of long years in which this woman's companionship had been an anchor to him, came to appease his easy nature.
"Well, it is no use being angry," he said at last; "the thing's done. And you really destroyed your lines?"
"Your father tore them up. He quite agreed with me that as I had no children, and there was no chance of one--at any rate, of a living one--that I was bound to release you. And I am bound. I refuse to be your wife."
"And if I claim you?" he said swiftly, resentment in his voice. She smiled.
"I shall still refuse you, then in three years we shall be automatically divorced."