is all right."

"All right! Yes, I know it's all right so far. That's what your mother
used to say, back in Trumet, when she first started in. You begin by
sayin' it's all right and pretty soon it IS all right. It ain't all
right for me--it's all wrong. Why did you go to that meetin'?"

"I went because I wanted to see for myself. And I saw."

"Yes, you saw. And you heard, too, I'll bet you. Well, did you like it?"

"LIKE it! Daddy, tell me: There is another Woman's Club in Scarford,
isn't there? This can't be the only one."

"No, it ain't. I believe there's another. A different one--a sensible
one, so I've heard tell. Mrs. Fenholtz--you've heard me speak of her,
Gertie; she's a fine woman--she belonged to the other one. She wanted
Serena to join, but Annette Black had her innin's first, and after that
'twas all off."

"I see, I see."

"You see; but what are you goin' to do? Are you goin' to any more of
them blessed meetin's?"

"I may. I probably shall. Daddy, dear, you must trust me. It is all
right, I tell you."

Ordinarily this would have been enough. But to-night it was not. Captain
Dan had spent some troubled hours since dinner and his nerves were on
the ragged edge.

"All right!" he repeated impatiently. "Don't say that again. Is it all
right for you to be gettin' into the same mess your mother is in? Is it
all right for you to be talkin' about society and Chapters and--and I
don't know what all? I did trust you, Gertie. I said so. I told Serena
so this very afternoon. She was talkin' about Cousin Percy, she's always
praisin' him up, and she said you liked him just as much as she did. He
was a cultivated, superior young man, she said, and you recognized it. I
laughed at her. I says, 'That's all right,' I says, 'but I wouldn't take
too much stock in that. Gertie knows what she's up to. She's got some
plan in her head, she told me so. She may pretend--'"

His daughter interrupted him.

"Father!" she exclaimed indignantly. "Why, Daddy! did you tell Mother
THAT?"

"Course I did! Why not? It's so, ain't it? What is the plan, Gertie?
What are you up to? You are pretendin', aren't you? Don't tell me you
ain't! Don't tell me--"

"I shan't tell you anything. You don't deserve to be told. I'm out
of patience with you, altogether. You deserve to be miserable. You'll
spoil--But there! good-night."

"Gertie! Gertie! hold on. Don't--"

Serena's voice sounded at the head of the stairs.

"Gertie!" she called