‘I’m d----- if I’m going to be treated in this way in my own house,’
were the first words which the priest heard.  And as Father Barham
walked up the room and came close to the scene of action, unperceived
by either of the Grendalls, Mr Melmotte was trying, but trying in
vain, to move his own seat nearer to Imperial Majesty.  A bar had been
put up of such a nature that Melmotte, sitting in the seat prepared
for him, would absolutely be barred out from the centre of his own
hall.  ‘Who the d——­ are you?’ he asked, when the priest appeared
close before his eyes on the inner or more imperial side of the bar. 
It was not the habit of Father Barham’s life to appear in sleek...