The little woman, who had risen, and had then sat down again at his entrance, eyed him steadily. There was a look in her dark bead-like eyes which showed Charles why Dare had been unable to face her. The look, determined, cunning, watchful, put him on his guard, and his manner became a shade more unconcerned. "Any friend of my husband's is welcome," she said. "There is no question for the moment about your husband, though no doubt a subject of peculiar interest to yourself. I was speaking of Mr. Dare." She rose to her feet, as if unable to sit while he was standing. "Mr. Dare is my husband," she said, with a little gesture of defiance, tapping sharply on the table with a teaspoon she held in her hand. Charles smiled blandly, and looked out of the window. "There is evidently some misapprehension on that point," he observed, "which I am here to remove. Mr. Dare is at present unmarried." "I am his wife," reiterated the woman, her color rising under her rouge. "I am, and I won't go. He dared not come himself, a poor coward that he is, to turn his wife out-of-doors. He sent you; but it's no manner of use, so you may as well know it first as last. I tell you nothing shall induce me to stir from this house, from my home, and you needn't think you can come it over me with fine talk. I don't care a red cent what you say. I'll have my rights." "I am here," said Charles, "to see that you get them, Mrs.--_Carroll_." There was a pause. He did not look at her. He was occupied in taking a white thread off his coat. "Carroll's dead," she said, sharply. "He is. And your regret at his loss was no doubt deepened by the unhappy circumstances in which it took place. He died in jail." "Well, and if he did--" "Died," continued Charles, suddenly fixing his keen glance upon her, "nearly a year after your so-called marriage with Mr. Dare." "It's a lie," she said, faintly; but she had turned very white. "No, I _think_ not. My information is on reliable authority. A slight exertion of memory on your part will no doubt recall the date of your bereavement." "You can't prove it." "Excuse me. You have yourself kindly furnished us with a copy of the marriage register, with the date attached, without which I must own we might have been momentarily at a loss. I need now only apply for a copy of the register of the decease of Jasper Carroll, who, as you do not deny, died under personal restraint in jail; in Baton Rouge Jail in Louisiana, I have no doubt you intended to add." She glared at him in silence. "Some dates acquire a peculiar interest when compared," continued Charles, "but I will not detain you any longer with business details of this kind, as I have no doubt that you will wish to superintend your packing." "I won't go." "On the contrary, you will leave this house in half an hour. The dog-cart is ordered to take you to the station." "What if I refuse to go?"