"I fear the worst demon of your nature is already in the ascendency."
"Enough! Will you go, or will you not?" said Maxwell, impatiently.
"I will not!"
"Then I must claim you as my slave,—do not start!—and compel you."
"Bond or free, I will not stir from beneath this roof with you," replied Emily, with calm resolution. All hope, if she had cherished any, was gone. Silently she breathed a prayer for strength and meekness to endure all; for fortitude to enable her to struggle till death with the oppression of her enemy; and for courage to meet any emergency in which her lot might be cast.
"It must be done! I will hesitate no longer!" said Maxwell, seizing Emily by the arm.
"Look here, you varmint, that won't do here!" exclaimed the mistress of the house, who, much against her inclination, had remained silent during the past fifteen minutes. "It shan't be said that Jerry Swinger's ruff couldn't protect a stranger."
"But, woman, she is my property," answered Maxwell, not a little intimidated by the ferocious aspect of the matron.
"Do not believe him, good woman, do not believe him!" exclaimed Emily, as she saw the woman was a little staggered by the attorney's claim.
"No, ma'am, I won't believe him," responded Mrs. Swinger, as her heart triumphed over the argument of the lawyer.