He said this with so much bitterness, and even pain, that I ran over to him and put my face against his hand.
"Wait a bit, Nora. We'd better get this matter settled once and for all," he said. "Either I am to come here, with the understanding and consent of these ladies, whenever I choose and without interference of any sort, or I will not come at all."
"Then I won't stay, either," I cried. "Margaret, you know that if he never comes to see me again, I'll jump into Lake Michigan."
They all laughed at that, and it broke up the strained conversation. Margaret said in her big, gay way:
"Of course you can come and go as you please. The rooms are yours, and I shouldn't presume to dictate to you." And then she said to mama: "Amy, you've had too much wine. Let it alone."
XXVII
Everything being made clear, Roger and I went up to his rooms. He shut the door, and said that "the two old ones" were all right enough, but he had come over 250 miles to see me, and he didn't care a hang what they or any one else thought, and that if they'd made any more fuss, he'd have taken me away from there without further parley. Then he asked me something suddenly that made me laugh. He wanted to know if I was afraid of him, and I asked:
"Why should I be?"