"But I don't want to go to a place all alone, Roger."
"I tell you, you won't be alone. I have a man and a woman there, and Holmes will take you."
"But I don't see the sense in going away out there in the middle of winter."
"I particularly want you to go. Are my wishes nothing to you, then? I want you out of Chicago for a few days. You've not been well and—"
"I never felt better in my life."
"Nora, I want you to go. You must go. Do this thing to please me."
As, puzzled, I still hesitated, he began to promise that he would join me there the next day, and when I still did not assent, he tried coaxing me in another way. He said he'd bring Verley and a hunting-dog, and he'd teach me how to ride horseback and to shoot. He had horses, too, somewhere near there; a big stock farm, I think. I told him I didn't want to shoot or kill things.
By this time he had worked himself up to a state of exasperation at my stubbornness, and his request really seemed to me so ridiculous and capricious that I began to laugh at him, saying jokingly:
"You're worse than a dog in a manger: you're a Turk. You want to shut me up in a box."