She flashed bitterly out of her passive disgust.
"This marriage, was it of my seeking? Did I not entreat you not to force me? I had my own plans then—then I might have been happy, but you were possessed with your pride—you bought me a husband who laughs at both of us; who were you or I to manage a noble, he fooled us both;" she rose suddenly—"do not come to me now with reproaches, you flung me among people who despised me, tied me to a man I never had even a passing liking for. I am not going to endeavour to prevent him from spending your money. It was your bargain, you and he can settle it, my father."
With that she gave him a look of wild unhappy hatred that cowed his rising fury.
"Ye are certainly mad," he muttered.
"Perhaps I am," answered the Countess. "Look then I do not commit madness; I suppose ye would sooner have me indifferent, than desperate."
"What cause have ye to be desperate?" he demanded.
She smiled scornfully.
"I am unhappier than you have it in you to realise," she said; "but I am sick of this talk."
Mr. Hilton looked at her keenly.
"Where is the Earl?"