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He stooped and drew one of her hands away from her face.

“You defied me,” he said. “Do you remember? And I am not accustomed to defiance. Nor will I bear it from anyone–my wife least of all. I am not threatening you; I am simply showing you what you must learn to expect from me, from the savage you have married. It is not my intention to frighten you. I am no longer angry with either you or the young fool whom you call your friend. By the way, I have not done him any violence. He has merely gone to find a lodging for himself and for the motor in the village. Yes, I turned him out of his own house, but I might have done worse. I meant to do much worse.”

“Yes?” murmured Nan. “Why–why didn’t you?”

“Because,” he answered grimly, “I found that I had only fools to deal with.”

He paused a moment.

“Well, now for your punishment,” he said. “As you remarked just now, I have you absolutely at my mercy. How much mercy do you expect–or deserve? Answer me–as my wife.”

But she could not answer him. She only bowed her head speechlessly against the strong hand that still held hers.

She could feel his fingers tightening to a grip. And she knew herself beaten, powerless.

“Listen to me, Anne!” he said suddenly; and in his voice was something that she had only heard once before, and that but vaguely. “I am going to give you a fair chance, in spite of your behaviour to me. I am willing to believe–I do believe–that, to a certain extent, I drove you to this course. I also believe that you and your friend Jerry are nothing but a pair of irresponsible children. I should like to have caned him, but I had nothing but a loaded horse-whip to do it with, so I was obliged to let him off. Now listen! I am going downstairs and I shall stay there for exactly half an hour. If between now and the end of that half-hour you come to me with any good and sufficient reason for letting you go back and live apart from me in your father’s house, I will let you go. You have asked me to remember that you are my wife. Precisely what you meant by that you have left me to guess. You will make that request of yours quite plain to me within the next half-hour.”

He relinquished his hold with the words, and would have withdrawn his hand, but she made a sharp movement to stay him.

“Do you–really–mean that?” she asked him, a catch in her voice, her head still bent.

“I have said it,” he said.

But still with nervous fingers she sought to detain him.

“What–what would you consider a good and sufficient reason?”

The hand she held clenched slowly upon itself.

“If you can convince me,” he said, his voice very deep and steady, “that to desert me would be for your happiness, I will let you go for that.”

“But how can I convince you?” she said, her face still hidden from him, her hands closed tightly upon his wrist.

“You will be able to do so,” he said, “if you know your own mind.”

“And if–if I fail to satisfy you?” she faltered.

He was silent. After a moment he deliberately freed himself, and turned away.

“Those are my terms,” he said. “If you do not come to me in half an hour I shall conclude that you leave the decision in my hands–in short, that you wish to remain my wife. Think well, Anne, before you take action in this matter. I do not seek to persuade you to either course. Only let me warn you that, whatever your choice, I shall treat it as final. You must realize that fully before you choose.”

He was at the head of the stairs as he ended. Without a pause he began to descend, and she counted his footsteps with a wildly beating heart till they ceased in the room below.