little Skinner girl," sobbed Helen.

"I'm sorry, dear, but you must not go against my wishes. As a good and
obedient wife, you should realize I know best. I can't allow you to go
down into that cabin."

"I won't go, dearest, but will you please promise me one thing--"

Ebenezer bent upon her a look so stern she dared not finish. "Oh, I do
wish Deforrest were here!" she ended irrelevantly.

"I do, too; but as long as he is not, you must trust me to do what I
think best."

He went out abruptly, and Helen Waldstricker cried herself to sleep.

CHAPTER XXIV

WALDSTRICKER INTERFERES

That evening Frederick Graves shook in his shoes when he returned home
and received Waldstricker's message to meet him in the library at nine
o'clock. If there was one person in the world he didn't want to see just
then, it was his dictatorial brother-in-law. He stood in his room
considering the situation, when he heard the grandfather's clock on the
stairs slowly strike the hour of nine.

"Well, it won't help any to keep him waiting," he muttered.

Unwillingly, he walked down the stairs to the library door. Pausing, he
saw Ebenezer seated at the table reading the Bible.

"Come in and sit down," greeted the latter, curtly.

"Thanks," said Frederick, taking a chair. "Mind if I smoke?"

The man thus addressed made no answer. He read a verse or two partly
aloud as if to himself, then closed the book and laid it on the table.

"What's the matter between you and Madelene?" he inquired presently,
fixing Frederick with a steady gaze.

"Nothing.... Nothing, that I'm to blame for. Madelene followed me to the
lake and found me in Skinner's shack. That's all the row was about."

"Why were you there?" Waldstricker did not change his tone.

Frederick threw his cigarette into the smoldering grate and shrugged his
shoulders impatiently.

"Can't a fellow stop in a shanty without the whole town gossiping about
it?" he demanded peevishly.

"That's just it, Frederick. I don't want people talking about my
sister's husband and a squatter girl," the older man explained. "I must
know why you were there."

"Look at here, Eb," exclaimed the boy, "why don't you let Madelene and
me fight out our own quarrels? I don't interfere with you and Helen."

"Huh! I should hope not!" growled Waldstricker. "But quarrels are not
what we're talking about.... Why were you in the Skinner hut?... Are you
in love with that girl?"

"God! No! Are you mad?