“Temporary decision,” he said, smiling.
“And,” she continued, “I shall wait until your reason has shown you that we are not living in the days of romance. Your treatment would be horrible in its baseness if it were not ridiculous. I own that I was frightened at first, but a night’s calm thought has taught me how I stand, has given me strength of mind, and I shall wait.”
“And so shall I,” he said, gazing at her angrily as he leaned forward; but she did not shrink from his eyes, meeting them with calm contemptuous indifference; and he sprang up at last with an angry oath.
“Once more, Kate,” he said, “understand this: you must and shall be my wife. You may try and set me at defiance, shut yourself up in your room, and keep on making efforts to escape, but all is in vain. I weighed all this well before I put my plans in execution. You hear me?”
“Every word,” she said, coldly. “Now hear me, Mr Garstang. I shall never consent to be your wife.”
“We shall see that,” he cried.
“I shall not shut myself up in my room, and I shall make no further attempt to leave this house. It would be too ridiculous. Sooner or later my uncle will trace me, and call you to account. I shall keep nothing back, and if he thinks proper to prosecute you for what you have done I shall be his willing witness.”
“Then you would go back to Northwood?” he said, with a laugh.
“Yes; if my uncle were here I should return with him at once. I was an impressionable, weak girl when I listened to you that night I had faith in you then. Events since have made me a woman.”
She rose again, and took a step or two to cross the room, and he sprang up to open the door.