'My sister, then, was the exception.'
After a burning half minute the earl said: 'I have to hear it from you,
Mr. Levellier. You see me here.'
That was handsomely spoken. But Lord Fleetwood had been judged and put aside. His opening of an old case to hint at repentance for brutality annoyed the man who had let him go scathless for a sister's sake.
'The grounds of your coming, my lord, are not seen; my time is short.'
'I must, I repeat, be consulted with regard to Lady Fleetwood's movements.'
'My sister does not acknowledge your claim.'
'The Countess of Fleetwood's acts involve her husband.'
'One has to listen at times to what old sailors call Caribbee!' Chillon exclaimed impatiently, half aloud. 'My sister received your title; she has to support it. She did not receive the treatment of a wife:— or lady, or woman, or domestic animal. The bond is broken, as far as it bears on her subjection. She holds to the rite, thinks it sacred. You can be at rest as to her behaviour. In other respects, your lordship does not exist for her.'
'The father of her child must exist for her.'
'You raise that curtain, my lord!'