At this Nora did fire up.
"How dare you say such a thing! I did not obtain his consent, he obtained mine."
"We know very well what that means. I have not arrived at my time of life without understanding what are the wiles with which a young woman of no position lures a handsome young fellow of good family; I have not the slightest doubt that my son would never have asked you to be his wife had you not made it quite clear to him that you wished him to."
Nora stood up; one could see that the colour kept coming and going in her cheeks; that she was trembling; that she seemed to be panting for breath.
"I--I think you'd better go."
The Countess went calmly on; the girl's agitation seemed to make the elder woman calmer, and more corrosive.
"I am going when it suits me; I assure you I have no wish to stay a moment longer in this abode of misrepresentation than I am compelled to. But before I go I wish to appeal to your sense of decency, if you have any sense of decency----"
"How--how dare you! how dare you speak to me like this!"
"I say, if you have any sense of decency, to release him from the most unfortunate position in which your father's misrepresentations, and your own peculiar behaviour, have entangled him."
"Has--has he sent you here?"