'You can claim no right,' she went on, 'to be here at this hour.
Pray go; you will disturb my mother.'
'Who is this man, then, whose right seems acknowledged?' asked
Richard, in ill-suppressed fury.
'When you address me like a gentleman, such as I used to believe you—'
'May I presume to ask when you ceased to regard me as a gentleman, mistress Dorothy?'
'As soon as I found that you had learned to despise law and religion,' answered the girl. 'Such a one will hardly succeed in acting the part of a gentleman, even had he the blood of the Somersets in his veins.'
'I thank you, mistress Dorothy,' said the stranger, 'and will profit by the plain hint. Once more tell me to go, and I will obey.'
'He must go first,' returned Dorothy.
Richard had been standing as if stunned, but now with an effort recovered himself.
'I will wait for you,' he said, and turned away.
'For whom, sir?' asked Dorothy, indignantly.