"As if that poor trifle, as you call it, were not the one treasure which I hold as far more precious than aught else the world could offer me. I have won you, and I mean to keep you, so you may as well resign yourself to your fate."
"Are we in a land of freedom, or are we not?"
"You are not in a land of freedom."
"Then resistance is useless?"
"Entirely so."
Eleanor mused for a moment.
"Tell me this," she said. "Why did you make that confession to me one day in the library? Why did you accuse yourself of having been actuated by mercenary motives?"
"Because I had been told of the interview between young Piper and yourself. I knew, after that, what your thoughts must be concerning me, so that, all things considered, it seemed to me the best thing I could do was to cry 'mea culpa,' even at the expense of lowering myself for a time in your estimation."
"But rather than do that, why not have confessed everything? Why not have told me then what you have told me to-day?"
"Because at that time my plans were not ripe for such a confession. Because I could not then have taken you to your father."