his will. She laid her hand
on his arm, pleading with him. Brutally, savagely, he thrust her
aside.

"No, no, I will not!" he thundered. "You have wormed yourself into
my confidence by means of lies and deceit. You have tricked me,
fooled me to the very limit! Oh, it is easy to see how you have
beguiled my son into the folly of loving you! And you--you have
the brazen effrontery to ask me to plead for your father? No! No!
No! Let the law take its course, and now Miss Rossmore--you will
please leave my house to-morrow morning!"

Shirley stood listening to what he had to say, her face white, her
mouth quivering. At last the crisis had come. It was a fight to
the finish between this man, the incarnation of corporate greed
and herself, representing the fundamental principles of right and
justice. She turned on him in a fury:

"Yes, I will leave your house to-night! Do you think I would
remain another hour beneath the roof of a man who is as blind to
justice, as deaf to mercy, as incapable of human sympathy as you
are!"

She raised her voice; and as she stood there denouncing the man of
money, her eyes flashing and her head thrown back, she looked like
some avenging angel defying one of the powers of Evil.

"Leave the room!" shouted Ryder, beside himself, and pointing to
the door.

"Father!" cried Jefferson, starting forward to protect the girl he
loved.

"You have tricked him as you have me!" thundered Ryder.

"It is your own vanity that has tricked you!" cried Shirley
contemptuously. "You lay traps for yourself and walk into them.
You compel everyone around you to lie to you, to cajole you, to
praise you, to deceive you! At least, you cannot accuse me of
flattering you. I have never fawned upon you as you compel your
family and your friends and your dependents to do. I have always
appealed to your better nature by telling you the truth, and in
your heart you know that I am speaking the truth now."

"Go!" he commanded.

"Yes, let us go, Shirley!" said Jefferson.

"No, Jeff, I came here alone and I'm going alone!"

"You are not. I shall go with you. I intend to make you my wife!"

Ryder laughed scornfully.

"No," cried Shirley. "Do you think I'd marry a man whose father is
as deep a discredit to the human race as your father is? No, I
wouldn't marry the son of such a merciless tyrant! He refuses to
lift his voice to save my father. I refuse to marry his son!"

She turned on Ryder with all the fury of a