“I assure you I should rather be anywhere else than here,” Eleanor retorted.
“I don’t know why he doesn’t just do you and have done with it,” Stoker said. “Little slip of a girl like you ain’t going to put up much of a fight. That’s what I’d do, just let you have it. I’ve a good mind to do it anyway. Then go to the lord and say, ‘there, it’s done. Now it’s your turn.” He cackled with laughter, a sound that chilled Eleanor’s blood, since she thought him eminently capable of such a deed.
“And another thing,” Stoker said. “Don’t you go talking to my Susan about things. Don’t talk to her at all. She’s got her work, and that’s it. She don’t need to be talking with some fancy young lady from London.”
“I don’t see why two women cannot have a civilised conversation without it being any of your
