Tottie came out. "Oh, wa-a-ait a minute! Why, you ain't half as hospitable as I am. I entertained the bunch of you yesterday, and let you raise the old Ned." She sauntered aside to take a look at the dial. "Oh! Oh!" Mrs. Milo dropped back to the bench, shutting out the sight of her visitor with both trembling hands. Sue went to stand across the dial from Tottie. "What can we do for you?" she asked pleasantly. Tottie addressed Mrs. Milo. "Your daughter's a lady," she declared emphatically. And to Sue, "Nothin' 's been said about squarin' with me." "Squaring?" "Damages." "Damages?"--more puzzled than ever. But Balcome understood. He advanced upon Tottie, shaking a fist. "You mean blackmail!" "Now go slow on that!" counseled Tottie, dangerously. "I aim to keep a respectable house." "And I'm sure you do," returned Sue, mollifyingly. It warmed Tottie into a confidence. "Dearie," she began, "I room the swellest people in the whole perfession. That's why I'm so mad. Here I took in that Clare Crosby. And what did she do to me?--'Aunt Clare!' Think of _me_ swallerin' such stuff! Well, you bet I'm goin' to let Felix Hull know all there is to know, and--the kid is big enough to understand." Now Sue put out a quick hand. "Ah, but you haven't the heart to hurt a child!" "Haven't I! You just wait till I have my talk with her 'Aunt Clare'!" "We haven't been able to locate her." Tottie's face fell. "No? Then I know a way to git even, and to git my pay. There's the newspapers--y' think they won't grab at this?" She jerked her red head toward the wedding-bell. "Just a 'phone, 'Long lost wife is found, or how a singer broke up a weddin'.'" "Oh, no!" Hattie raised a frightened face to that upper window of the study. "By Heaven!" stormed Balcome, stamping the grass. "Now, I know you're joking!" declared Sue. "Yes, you are!" "Yes, I _ain't_!" "Ah, you can't fool me! No, indeed! You wouldn't think of doing such a thing--a woman who stands so high in her profession!" Tottie's eyelids fluttered, as if at a light too brilliant to endure; and she caught her breath like one who has drunk an over-generous draught. "Aw--er--um." Her hand went up to her throat. She swallowed. Then recovering herself, "Dearie, you're not only a lady, but you're discernin'--that's the word!--discernin'." She laid a hand appreciatively on Sue's arm. Sue patted the hand. "Ha-ha!" she laughed. "I could see that you were acting! The very first minute you came through that door--'That woman is an artist'--that's what I said to myself--'a great artist---in her line.' For you can _act_. Oh, Miss St. Clair, _how_ you can act!" Tottie seemed to grow under the praise, to lengthen and to expand. "Well, I do flatter myself that I have talent," she conceded. "I've played with the best of 'em. And as I say,----"