"I shall be glad to speak to you for a quarter of an hour, by and by," he said. "What time would suit you best?"
"Whenever you please. I shall be in my dressing-room," she answered quietly; and then, growing desperate in her desire to know her fate, she exclaimed, "But O, Daniel, are we really to go back to Arden to-morrow?"
"We are not," he said, with a repelling look. "My children are going back to-morrow. I contemplate other arrangements for you."
"You mean to separate my baby and me?" she cried incredulously.
"This is neither the place nor the time for any discussion about that. I will come to your dressing-room by and by."
"I will not be parted from my child!"
"That is a question which I have to settle."
"Do not make any mistake, Mr. Granger," Clarissa said firmly, facing him with a dauntless look that surprised him a little—yet what cannot a woman dare, if she can betray the man who has loved and trusted her? "You may do what you please with me; but I will not submit to have my child taken from me."
"I do not like talking in passages," said her husband; "if you insist upon discussing this matter now, we had better go into your room."
They were close to the dressing-room door. He opened it, and they went in. The fire was burning brightly, and the small round table neatly laid for breakfast. Clarissa had been in the habit of using this apartment as her morning-room. There were books and drawing-materials, a table with a drawing-board upon it, and a half-finished sketch.