e idea if clearly presented."

"Why, how absurd that is, Wayne!" put in Mr. Lanley. "You don't mean to
say that you told Mrs. Farron you were going to elope with her daughter,
and she didn't take in what you said?"

"And yet that is just what took place."

Adelaide glanced at her father, as much as to say, "You see what kind of
young man it is," and then went on:

"One fact at least I have learned only this minute--that is that the
finances for this romantic trip were to be furnished by a dishonorable
firm from which your son has been dismissed; or, no, resigned, isn't it?"

The human interest attached to losing a job brought mother and son
together on the instant.

"O Pete, you've left the firm!"

He nodded.

"O my poor boy!"

He made a gesture, indicating that this was not the time to discuss the
economic situation, and Adelaide went smoothly on:

"And now, Mrs. Wayne, the point is this. I am considered harsh because I
insist that a young man without an income who has just come near to
running off with my child on money that was almost a bribe is not a
person in whom I have unlimited confidence. I ask--it seems a tolerably
mild request--that they do not see each other for six months."

"I cannot agree to that," said Wayne decidedly.

"Really, Mr. Wayne, do you feel yourself in a position to agree or
disagree? We have never consented to your engagement. We have never
thought the marriage a suitable one, have we, Papa?"

"No," said Mr. Lanley in a tone strangely dead.

"Why is it not suitable?" asked Mrs. Wayne, as if she really hoped that
an agreement might be reached by rational discussion.

"Why?" said Adelaide, and smiled. "Dear Mrs. Wayne, these things are
rather difficult to explain. Wouldn't it be easier for all of us if you
would just accept the statement that we think so without trying to decide
whether we are right or wrong?"

"I'm afraid it must be discussed," answered Mrs. Wayne.

Adelaide leaned back, still with her faint smile, as if defying, though
very politely, any one to discuss it with _her_.

It was inevitable that Mrs. Wayne should turn to Mr. Lanley.

"You, too, think it unsuitable?"

He bowed gravely.

"You dislike my son?"

"Quite the contrary."

"Then you must be able to tell me the reason."

"I will try," he said. He felt like a soldier called upon to defend a
lost cause. It was his cause, he couldn't desert it. His daughter and
his granddaughter needed his protec