In an instant he was back at her side, borne on a flood of happiness. For a moment he looked at her hard. His eyes went from feature to feature, to her hands, her hair in silent approval. Then he exclaimed decidedly:
"Oh, you can't link yourself with me in any way. I'm a social outcast—why, now, I haven't even the advantage of being a picturesque adventurer! You will compromise yourself fearfully—you'll be ostracized—oh, it's impossible—I can't permit it!"
"You need not fear for yourself—or for me," she said, clasping his hand. "If I love you, what do I care—what should you care? I have come to you like Porphyria—but I am no Porphyria—you'll have no need to strangle me in my hair—my 'darling one wish' will be easier found than that!"
There was something in the unrestrained fondness of her look, now, that made him jump to a place beside her. What might have followed was interrupted by the sound of a familiar voice in the anteroom, demanding Mr. Granthope. Clytie sprang up, her cheeks burning. Granthope turned coolly to the door, with his eyebrows lifted. Mr. Payson appeared at the entrance. He was scowling under his bushy eyebrows, the muscles of his face were twitching. A cane was firmly clenched in his right hand. He bent a harsh look at his daughter.
"What does this mean, Clytie?" he demanded.
She had recovered on the instant and faced him splendidly, in neither defiance nor supplication. "It means," she said in her low, steady voice, "that as you won't permit me to receive Mr. Granthope in your house, I must see him in his."
"Leave this room instantly!" he thundered bombastically.
"Please don't make a scene, father. I'm quite old enough to take care of myself, and to judge for myself. You needn't humiliate me."
"Humiliate you! If you're not humiliated at being found here with a cheap impostor, I don't think I can shame you! This man is a rank scoundrel and a cheat—I won't have you compromise yourself with such a mountebank!"
Granthope stood watching her unruffled, fearless pose, confident in her power to control the situation.