"Suppose he takes steps to see that I don't go back?" she chanced.
"He can scarcely compel you to live with him."
"He can, and he will. He isn't as civilized as he appears. If need be, he would keep me locked up here and make me his by force, or kill me. He told me so."
Lawrence shrugged his shoulders.
"Romantic raving for effect!" he exclaimed. "But if he should happen to try that, well, I think my argument might be as effective as his."
"But how do you propose to stop him? I tell you, he is in earnest." Claire was insistent.
"Why, in whatever way is necessary. If it is my life against his, I'll give him the best I've got."
She looked at Lawrence in wonder. He was as calm as if he had been making small talk at a theater-party.
"Can you plan it so—so carelessly, like that?" she asked.
"Why not? I could hardly allow him to take you by force. I wouldn't choose a fight as a diversion, but once in, I wouldn't stop short of his life. And I wouldn't feel any compunction afterward, either."