“You are very bold, Bee.”
“What am I to do if I have no one to speak for me? Papa, Aubrey——”
“I forbid you to speak with such familiarity of a man whom you have nothing to do with, and whom you scarcely know.”
“Papa, Aubrey—” cried Bee, with astonishment.
Colonel Kingsward jumped up from his table in a fury of impatience. “How dare you come and besiege me here in my own room with your Aubrey?—a man whom you have not known a month; a stranger to the family.”
“Papa, you must let me speak. You allowed me to be engaged to him. If you had said ‘no’ at first, there might, perhaps, have been some reason in it.”
“Perhaps—some reason!” he repeated, with an angry laugh.
“Yes, for even then it was not your own happiness that was in question. It was I, after all, that was to marry him.”
“And you think that is a reason for defying me?”
“It is always said to be a reason—not for defying anybody—but for standing up for what you call my own interests, papa—when they are somebody else’s interests as well. You said we might be engaged—and we were. And how can I let anyone, even you, say he is a stranger? He is my fiancé. He is betrothed to me. We belong to each other. Whatever anyone may say, that is the fact,” cried Bee, very rapidly, to get it all out before she was interrupted.