"No. There won't be room for him, Hildegarde. Ethel and Sally have decided not to stay in town."
Hildegarde's throat seemed suddenly dry, but she managed to say, "Crispin can come on the train."
"My dear child, I'd rather he didn't. Isn't this as good a time as any to let him drop out of your life?"
With a touch of her old fire, Hildegarde asked, "Why should I let him drop out of my life?"
"Oh, he isn't exactly our kind, is he?"
Her head went up. "I'm afraid I can't see it quite that way, Daddy."
He was proud of her grace and charm. Yet he would not yield. "I met Gresham a few moments ago, and he said he had asked if he could come out to Round Hill, and you had refused to do everything he had planned for you. What will he think when he finds you have given all tomorrow to Harlowe?"
"I don't care what Bobby thinks."
He shrugged. "You say that, but I wonder if you really mean it, Hildegarde."
Her eyes met his squarely. "Do you want me to marry Bobby?"
"I don't want you to marry anybody." His tone was emphatic, but he did not look at her. She stood for a moment without speaking, then she said, "I'll call up Crispin as soon as I can reach him at his hotel, and tell him not to come."
Her conversation with Crispin over the wire was brief. She knew he felt the lack of room in the car an insufficient excuse for her withdrawal of the invitation. Yet what could she say? Her father's words had been in effect a prohibition. There had been a
