Edgar arrived punctually to the time appointed by herself.  When Lilla, through the great window, saw him approaching the house, her condition of nervous upset was pitiable.  She braced herself up, however, and managed to get through the interview in its preliminary stages without any perceptible change in her normal appearance and bearing.  It had been to her an added terror that the black shadow of Oolanga, whom she dreaded, would follow hard on his master.  A load was lifted from her mind when he did not make his usual stealthy approach.  She had also feared, though in lesser degree, lest Lady Arabella should be present to make trouble for her as before.

With a woman’s natural forethought in a difficult position, she had provided the furnishing of the tea-table as a subtle indication of the social difference between her and her guest.  She had chosen the implements of service, as well as all the provender set forth, of the humblest kind.  Instead of arranging the silver teapot and china cups, she had set out an earthen teapot, such as was in common use in the farm kitchen.  The same idea was carried out in the cups and saucers of thick homely delft, and in the cream-jug of similar kind.  The bread was of simple whole-meal, home-baked.  The butter was good, since she had made it herself, while the preserves and honey came from her own garden.  Her face beamed with satisfaction when the guest eyed the appointments with a supercilious glance.  It was a shock to the poor girl herself, for she enjoyed offering to a guest the little hospitalities possible to her; but that had to be sacrificed with other pleasures.

Caswall’s face was more set and iron-clad than ever—­his piercing eyes seemed from the very beginning to look her through and through.  Her heart quailed when she thought of what would follow—­of what would be the end, when this was only the beginning.  As some protection, though it could be only of a sentimental kind, she brought from her own room the photographs of Mimi, of her grandfather, and of Adam Salton, whom by now she had grown to look on with reliance, as a brother whom she could trust.  She kept the pictures near her heart, to which her hand naturally strayed when her feelings of constraint, distrust, or fear became so poignant as to interfere with the calm which she felt was necessary to help her through her ordeal.

At first Edgar Caswall was courteous and polite, even thoughtful; but after a little while, when he found her resistance to his domination grow, he abandoned all forms of self-control and appeared in the same dominance as he had previously shown.  She was prepared, however, for this, both by her former experience and the natural fighting instinct within her.  By this means, as the minutes went on, both developed the power and preserved the equality in which they had begun.