‘Oh, I know he thinks so. And of course he’s always right!’ retorted Ada, excitedly. ‘Every one knows that. I suppose if he had been talking to me, we should have heard none of all this.’ ‘Not a word; you are quite right,’ said Roger, constrainedly. ‘I should have known there was some reason for what he did. But that’s just it. No one ever hears of him making a fool of himself in that way, and behaving like a cad at a public entertainment. It isn’t in him.’ ‘I know I’m awfully tired of hearing Dr. Langstroth’s praises for ever sung. And as for Miss Askam, of course he says she is an angel, and an angel that’s pretty thick with him, by all accounts.’ ‘What do you mean? Who says anything against them?’ asked Roger, indignant at her tone. ‘Goodness! I never said it was against them. I see no harm in it; but then I’m not so strait-laced as some people. They’ve been seen riding together, not so long ago, and he called there when Mr. Askam was away.’ ‘Their meeting was a pure accident.’ ‘Oh, of course! Such things are always accidents,’ said Ada, with a laugh. ‘Do you mean that you doubt me, Ada?’ he asked, very seriously. ‘Doubt _you_?—not at all. I suppose Dr. Langstroth said it was an accident, and of course we all know he has nothing to do but speak, and you do what he tells you, and believe what he says.’ This shaft fell quite ineffectually. ‘It does not matter who circulated the report,’ said Roger. ‘Every one knows that Miss Askam is a young lady of the very highest character.’ ‘She’s perhaps got all the propriety for herself and her brother as well——’ ‘It is very certain that her brother has none. And that brings me back. Ada, you will promise me not to have anything further to do with him, will you not, dear?’ ‘If he speaks to me, I suppose I’m to shut my mouth and not say a word?’ ‘He shall not speak to you again in any way that you cannot answer.’ ‘Oh, what do I care for him? I want none of him, especially if there’s to be all this fuss made about it,’ said Ada; but she did not meet his eyes as she spoke. ‘That’s my own dearest Ada!’ exclaimed Roger, too much pleased with what he considered her promise, to notice anything else. ‘And by to-morrow night, I hope to have done with him for ever. I will speak to your father, and make it right with him. And now let us forget it all, and have some music by ourselves, shall we?’ But Ada was by no means to be so easily pacified. She declined the music entirely, and said that such a concert could not in the least make up for the one she had lost. After some utterly abortive attempts to keep up a cheerful conversation, all of which she cut short with snaps, or yawns, Roger at last relieved her of his company, and went on his way, with the dreary, blank sense that he and she were thoroughly divided in their opinion upon the occurrences of the evening.