The thing is impossible."
With vast relief Irene heard him return upon this note, and strike
it so violently. She felt no more compunction. The man was finally
declared to her, and she could hold her own against him. Her
headache had grown fierce; her mouth was dry; shudders of hot and
cold ran through her. The struggle must end soon.
"I am forgetting hospitality," she said, with sudden return to her
ordinary voice. "You would like tea."
Arnold waved his hand contemptuously.
"No?--Then let us understand each other in the fewest possible
words."
"Good." He smiled, a smile which seemed to tighten every muscle of
his face. "I decline to release you from your promise."
She could meet his gaze, and did so as she answered with cold
collectedness:
"I am very sorry. I think it unworthy of you."
"I shall make no change whatever in my arrangements. Our marriage
will take place on the day appointed."
"That can hardly be, Mr. Jacks, if the bride is not there."
"Miss Derwent, the bride will be there!"
He was not jesting. All the man's pride rose to assert dominion. The
prime characteristic of his nation, that personal arrogance which is
the root of English freedom, which accounts for everything best, and
everything worst, in the growth of English power, possessed him to
the exclusion of all less essential qualities. He was the subduer
amazed by improbable defiance.
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