He could not stop himself, for he mistrusted her still.
"I will not be your slave," he said, through his teeth. "You shall be mine."
"Yes, yes."
"You shall submit to me in everything. If I say 'come,' you shall come to wheresoever it may be; and if I say 'stay,' and leave you for ever, you shall stay."
"Very well," she said eagerly. She would have her revenge when he was her slave.
"You can continue to be the haughty Lady Disdain to others, but you shall be only obedient little Alice to me."
"Very well." She drew his arm towards her and pressed her lips upon it. "And for that you will love me a little, won't you? You will love me at last, won't you?" she entreated.
He was a masterful man up to a certain point only. Her humility now tapped him in a new place, and before he knew what he was about he began to run pity.
"To humiliate you so, Alice! I am a dastard. I am not such a dastard as you think me. I wanted to know that you would be willing to do all these things, but I would never have let you do them."
"I am willing to do them."