"I come here to ask for my child. Where is Althea?"
"Where you cannot get at her," answered Mrs. Vernon, coldly.
"Don't think to put me off in that way," he said, fiercely. "I will know where she is."
"Don't think to terrify me, John Hartley," said the lady, contemptuously. "I am not so easily alarmed as your poor wife."
Hartley looked at her as if he would have assaulted her had he dared, but she knew very well that he did not dare. He was a bully, but he was a coward.
"You refuse, then, to tell me what you have done with my child?" he demanded, at length.
"I do."
"Take care, madam! A father has some rights, and the law will not permit his child to be kept from him."
"Does your anxiety to see Althea arise from parental affection?" she asked, in a sarcastic tone.
"Never mind what it springs from. I have a right to the custody of my child."