"I am very sorry, ma'am," he said, "but I cannot allow these things to leave the house without Mr. Swanland's permission."
Dolly turned and looked at him. I think if a look could have struck him dead where he stood, he had never spoken more.
With all the authority of Salisbury House behind him, Meadows quailed at sight of her face, wondering what should follow.
But nothing followed except this:
"Take those things upstairs at once," she said, turning to Esther and Lang, "put them in my dressing-room with the other boxes, and bring me the key of the door."
"I do not know, madam," remarked Mr. Meadows, emboldened by what he considered her previous submission, "whether you are aware that if you lock the door we can break it open."
Then Dolly found tongue.
"Do it," she said; "only break open any door I choose to lock, and I will make things unpleasant for you and your master too. I have endured at your hands and his what I believe no woman ever endured before, but if you presume another inch I will have justice if I carry our case into every court in England."
She did not know, poor soul, her cause had been settled in a court whence there is no appeal, and for that very reason speaking fearlessly her words carried weight.