But nothing else occurred to mar the meal, and when it was finished Edith started to go up to her room again.
She went up the back way, hoping thus to avoid meeting any member of the family.
She reached the landing upon the second floor and was about to mount another flight when there came a swift step over the front stairs, and, before she could escape, Emil Correlli came into view.
Another instant and he was by her side.
"Edith!" he exclaimed, astonished to see her there, "where have you been?"
"Down to my dinner," she quietly replied, but confronting him with undaunted bearing.
"Down to your dinner?" he repeated, flushing hotly, a look of keen annoyance sweeping over his face. "If you were able to leave your room at all, your place was in the dining-room, with the family, and," he added, sternly, "I do not wish any gossip among the servants regarding my—wife."
It was Edith's turn to flush now, at that obnoxious term.
"You will please spare me all allusion to that mockery," she bitterly, but haughtily, retorted.
"It was no mockery—it was a bona fide marriage," he returned. "You are my lawful wife, and I wish you, henceforth, to occupy your proper position as such."