"What then?" said the parson in a low tone.
"Appearances. I ain't to be a laughing-stock of the neighborhood any longer. My wife's my wife. A husband's a husband, and wants obedience."
"And what if you do not get it?" asked the parson, his old face whitening.
"What? Imprisonment—that's what." Drayton twisted about and touched the lawyer with the handle of his whip. "Here, you, tell 'em what's what."
Thus appealed to, Mr. Bonnithorne explained that a husband was entitled to the restitution of connubial rights, and, in default, to the "attachment" of his spouse.
"The law," said Mr. Bonnithorne, "can compel a wife to live with her husband, or punish her with imprisonment for not doing so."
"D'ye hear?" said Drayton, slapping furiously at the sole of his boot. "Punish her with imprisonment."
There was a pause, and then the parson said, quietly but firmly:
"I gather that it means that you want to share this lady's property."
"Well, what of it? Hain't I a right to share it, eh?"