I walked straight up to him, and looked him full in the face.

“Am I to understand, Sir Percival, that your wife’s room is a prison, and that your housemaid is the gaoler who keeps it?” I asked.

“Yes, that

is

what you are to understand,” he answered. “Take care my gaoler hasn’t got double duty to do⁠—take care your room is not a prison too.”

“Take