Come, do you hear? Put on your things; we are off at once.'
'I don't want to go!' pouted the young lady.
'I daresay you don't,' replied her father drily. 'But children
never know what's best for them. So come along, and trust to my
opinion.'
Laura was silent, and did not move, the opera gentleman looking
helplessly into the fire, and the lady's cousin sitting meditatively
calm, as the single one of the four whose position enabled him to
survey the whole escapade with the cool criticism of a comparative
outsider.
'I say to you, Laura, as the father of a daughter under age, that
you instantly come with me. What? Would you compel me to use
physical force to reclaim you?'
'I don't want to return!' again declared Laura.
'It is your duty to return nevertheless, and at once, I inform you.'
'I don't want to!'
'Now, dear Laura, this is what I say: return with me and your
cousin James quietly, like a good and repentant girl, and nothing
will be said. Nobody knows what has happened as yet, and if we
start at once, we shall be home before it is light to-morrow
morning. Come.'
'I am not obliged to come at your bidding, father, and I would
rather not!'
Now James, the cousin, during this dialogue might have been observed
to grow somewhat restless, and even impatient. More than once he
had parted his lips to speak, but second thoughts each time held him
back. The moment had come, however, when he could keep silence no
longer.
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