At last, when they were seated in their carriage, and rolling smoothly toward home, her wrath broke forth. “Papa, I think it was real shabby of you not to shake hands with Earle, and express a little genuine sympathy for him.” “I do not know as I particularly desire to shake hands with, or that I experience any great amount of ‘genuine’ sympathy for, the man who is supposed to have robbed me,” returned Mr. Dalton, with exasperating indifference. “Papa Dalton! you _know_ Earle Wayne did not rob you as well as I do,” Editha said, her eyes sparkling angrily; for the sweet little maiden _could_ show anger upon occasion. “And as for myself,” she continued, spiritedly, “I am _proud_ of him; I was proud to shake hands with him before the multitude, and I shall be proud to greet him as my friend when his term expires and he comes among us again.” “Very likely,” Mr. Dalton answered sarcastically, his thin lips curling with scorn; “and after the very marked exhibition to-day, I should be prepared to know of your being ‘proud’ of him in almost any capacity. But pray, Editha, do not _gush_ any more about it; it’s all very well for a young lady to express her sympathy and proper feeling in a proper way and at a proper time; but it was exceedingly mortifying to me to-day to see you carry quite so much sail.” Miss Editha tossed her pretty head somewhat defiantly and impatiently at this curtain lecture, but a vivid scarlet burned upon her cheeks, showing that she felt its stinging force, notwithstanding. Mr. Dalton continued, with increasing sarcasm: “You and the young culprit formed the center of attraction during your tender little episode, and I doubt not, almost everybody thought you were taking a heart-broken leave of your lover, instead of a poor _protege_—a mere nobody—whom your philanthropic uncle had picked up.” Editha had started violently as Mr. Dalton spoke of Earle as her “_lover_,” and the burning blood rushed in a flood to her brow, over her neck, arms, and hands, and tingled to the very tips of her toes. Could it be possible that she had behaved in so unmaidenly a manner, and given the gaping multitude such an impression? Earle Wayne her lover! She had never had such a thought before; but a strange thrill shot through her heart now, bowing the defiant, sunny-haired head, and making the sweet blue eyes droop half guiltily. But she quickly rallied, and, tossing back the waves of hair from her flushed face, she bravely returned to the combat. “Well, and if he were—if—he were—what you have said of him, papa, I should _still_ be proud of him, and—I’d be _true_ to him, too. I’d _marry_ him—_yes_, I _would_—just as soon as ever he got through with those hateful three years;” and she enforced her words with an emphatic tap of her small boot. Mr. Dalton leaned back in the carriage and laughed heartily at this spirited outburst. On the whole, he rather enjoyed seeing his charming daughter in a passion.