“Yes,” replied her father with a huge sigh of relief--his daughter was contented; her and their vanity would be spared; Tom Burster would not demand or want a dower; he was not only independent, but also one of the most forward young “self-made” rich men in Chicago. “You’ve got more sense than all the rest of the family put together,” he exclaimed proudly, patting her on the head. And in an absent, reflective tone she said: “I always felt I’d have some use for Tom sooner or later.” XIX Frothingham’s abrupt change of tactics had been caused by a cablegram from Evelyn which reached him at the Barneys’ even as his diplomatic agent was in the heat and toil of the negotiations with Amzi Hooper. It read: Break off everything and return. Have written you New York. Best possible news. Gwen sends love. “Why didn’t she say what it was?” he wondered. And he decided that it must be news of too private a nature to be trusted to the telegraph station at Beauvais. Why had she written if he was to go at once? “I suppose,” he concluded, “she was afraid I mightn’t obey orders. ‘Gwen sends love’--that must mean that the news is about me and Gwen.” But he had no uplifting of spirits--instead, he felt a sense of impending misfortune. He called up Lawrence’s office and told one of the clerks that he wished Lawrence to call him as soon as he came in. In a few minutes Lawrence was relating over the wire the favourable progress of the negotiation. “It’s off,” said Frothingham. “I want nothing more to do with it. I’m glad it’s in good form for the break. I can drop it decently.” This so delighted Lawrence that he laughed aloud. “Hooper’s certain to send for me,” he said. “I’ll give him the shock of his life.” Frothingham cautioned him against any transgression of the most courteous politeness, then went down to luncheon--with Nelly, alone. While she was talking and he listening and looking, all in a flash he understood why the “best possible news” from home depressed him, why “Gwen sends love” did not elate him. He asked Nelly to take him to her school. “Oh, you wouldn’t be interested,” she said. But he insisted, and they set out immediately after luncheon. As they went--in a street car--she explained her work: