"You will not dare suggest it," returned the wife, in a coldly quiet tone, but with a dangerous gleam in her eyes. "No judge would render so unrighteous a decree if I were to tell my story, which I certainly should do if driven to it. I have assented to your demand for this separation, but before I sign any papers to ratify the agreement you will legally surrender all claim to, or authority over, Dorothy."
"Indeed! Aren't you assuming a good deal of authority for yourself, Helen? You appear to forget that Dorothy is my child as well as yours—that I love her——"
"Love her!" Exceeding bitterness vibrated in the mother's voice. "How have you shown your love for her? However, it is useless to discuss that point. I have given you my ultimatum—upon no other condition will I consent to this divorce," she concluded, with an air of finality there was no mistaking.
"I swear I will not do it!" John Hungerford burst forth, with sudden anger.
An interval of silence followed, during which each was apparently absorbed in troubled thought.
"Possibly it will make no difference whether you do or do not accede to my terms," Mrs. Hungerford resumed, after a moment, "for it has occurred to me that there is already a law regulating the guardianship of minors, giving the child a voice in the matter; and, Dorothy being old enough to choose her own guardian, there can be little doubt regarding what her choice would be."
"You are surely very sanguine," sneered her husband.
"And why should I not be?" demanded the woman, in a low but intense tone. "What have you to offer her? What have you ever done for her, or to gain her confidence and respect, that could induce her to trust her future with you? How do you imagine she will regard this last humiliation to which you are subjecting her and her mother?"
John Hungerford flushed a conscious crimson as these pertinent questions fell from the lips of his outraged wife. His glance wavered guiltily, then fell before the clear, accusing look in her eyes.
"Oh, doubtless you have her well trained in the rôle she is to play," he sullenly observed, after an interval of awkward silence, during which he struggled to recover his customary self-assurance. "You have always indulged her lightest whim, and so have tied her securely to your apron strings, which, it goes without saying, has weakened my hold upon her."