‘Ah, but then I was mad!’
‘Are you prepared, then, to take your child back to the White House with you? Will you confess the lie of which you have been guilty to your parents, and exonerate me in their eyes of the charge you have brought against me?’
Maraquita shrank backward.
‘Oh, Liz! that is too much. I should destroy all my prospects at a blow by such an admission. Besides, it has nothing to do with the matter. All I want is to see the child. Surely you will not refuse so trifling a request?’
‘I do refuse it.’
‘But you have no right to do so.’
‘By your own account, Maraquita, I have every right. You declared before your mother that this child was mine. Therefore I will keep it as such, and I refuse to let you see her.’
‘And I am determined not to leave the bungalow till I have done so!’ cried Quita, rushing towards the bedroom door.
But Lizzie had reached it before she did, and stood with her back against the panels.
‘You shall not enter here,’ she said, in a tone of authority.