This time Tatiana laughed heartily. The idea of Basil in the character of his wife’s jailer amused her. “Don’t talk nonsense!” she said, still laughing. “You are overwrought, or you would see the absurdity of your contention. I did not come here of my own volition. You sent for me, and leaving my husband and my children at a second’s notice, I literally flew to your rescue. But if you expect me to become your accomplice in a dire piece of folly, you have reckoned without your--guest; that’s all there is about it!” She gently beat her hands together to aid the circulation, drew back on her seat, leaned luxuriously among its cushions, and waited for an answer. “Do you pretend to prevent me from leaving Tverna?” Laurence demanded, insolently. She was reaching a dangerous point of exasperation, and as she glanced at her sister-in-law her eyes were at once furtive and full of revolt. “Oh! Yes!” the latter replied, unconcernedly. “Yes, decidedly, until Basil returns. Then it will be his affair to deal with the situation.” “By what means do you intend to coerce me into remaining here, if I don’t wish to?” Laurence inquired, her nose high in the air. “By extremely reasonable ones. To begin with, I propose to show you how ill-advised it would be for you to defy Basil’s authority.” “Meaning what?” “Plainly, my dear, that he would not for an instant countenance your taking the law by storm in so unseemly a fashion. You have been frightened, I understand, by some report of sickness in the village, whereupon, against the direct counsels of a man who was, so to speak, here to guard you and poor little Piotr, you attempted to decamp. The people with unpraiseworthy hastiness gave you a taste of their mettle. I profoundly regret it. But now you have nothing to fear. I am here and will stay with you as long as there is the faintest risk of further trouble. To-day, moreover, I shall communicate with Basil and recall him. If he cannot come at once I will prolong my sojourn, greatly against my own wishes, and in the mean time I ask you, as a sensible woman, to make the best of it, and not to bother me too much. That, I believe, is all I have to say!” “Supposing I don’t obey your orders?” Laurence cried, defiantly. “Don’t let us suppose anything of the sort!” countered Tatiana. “Besides, I beg you to observe that so far my orders have been mere advice. But wait a minute.” She rose, touched the bell, and sat down again, utterly disregarding Laurence’s ferocious gaze. “Célèste,” the Duchess said, quietly, as that gay person answered the summons, “I want to say two words to you.” “I am at Madame la Duchesse’s orders,” the dauntless Provençale murmured, dropping a very finished little courtesy.