fense, of affectionate reassurance. Out of it all, the girl’s voice rose impatiently: “Well, Dad ’s doing it to deceive Mr. Huntley. That ’s why he ’s doing it. He ’s in a—he ’s in trouble—money troubles. And he could n’t refuse his consent to our marriage—to Mr. Huntley. And I could n’t refuse to marry him, either—without making it worse for Dad. That ’s why I got engaged to him, in the first place—to get him to help Dad. And don’t you think Dad tried to force me to, either—or even asked me to—for he did n’t. And when I saw he was n’t going to help Dad till after we ’d be married—and he would n’t help him at all if I backed out of it—I—well, I ‘disappeared.’ And Dad ’s just pretending he thinks I ’ve been kidnapped, so as to hold Huntley. And Huntley ’s paying the detectives, and all the rest of it. People think we ’re rich, but Dad ’s lost everything, and we have n’t a cent, and unless Mr. Huntley helps him through with this scheme of his, I don’t know what will become of him.”
