"Above all, Henry, you are to let the doctor think that you administer all that he gives you."
Henry signified that he fully understood and would obey his instructions. Then he opened the inner door, and John Arthur and Madeline Payne stood once more face to face!
For a moment, the two eyed each other in silence. Then John Arthur said, with a sneer on his lip, and in a tone which proved clearly that time and imprisonment had not taught him meekness:
"So, you young jade, what escapade have you been up to now? And how dare you come back here like a young princess? Why don't you keep out of my house?"
Madeline laughed scornfully. "Your house!—But I forgive you, step-papa; of course you are not accountable for your words."
Her tone was mockery itself. The man found it difficult to restrain his wrath as he looked in her scornful face and said: "Don't dare to pretend to believe that I am crazy! Are you in league against me, too?"
Wishing to draw from him just how much of the baseness of Cora he believed in, or suspected, she dropped her voice and asked, in assumed surprise: "Is it possible that you believe some one to be plotting against you?"
"Is it possible! How else could I be kept shut up a prisoner in my own house?"
The girl seemed to ponder. "Who is your enemy?" she asked.
"Every one in this house."