"He tells me you have accorded your own son superior privileges."
"My son treats me with respect."
"Probably you treat him differently from Jasper."
"I have reasons to."
"You will admit that it is aggravating to see a stranger—an intruder, I may say—preferred to him in his own home?"
"Who calls my son an intruder?" asked Mrs. Kent, hastily.
"Let us call him a stranger, then. Was Mr. Kent aware that you had a son?"
"I decline to answer your question," answered Mrs. Kent, with asperity.
"To pass on, then. Have you refused Jasper permission to return to the school at which his father placed him?"
"I have."