"Certainly not." Kathleen crimsoned with indignation. How dared Sinclair Spencer catechise her! "I must insist that you leave. And, Mr. Spencer, please remember, I desire that you never again allude to your proposal of marriage." "But I shall," doggedly. "Then our acquaintance will cease." Her manner even more than her words roused Spencer to sudden wrath. "No, it won't," he retorted. "And I will make you--understand--make you reconsider your refusal to marry me. Good morning," and without a backward look he departed. Kathleen drew a long breath of relief as the front door closed behind him. "Thank God, he's gone," she said aloud, unconscious that her words were overheard. "He is insufferable. I cannot understand why father ever encouraged him to come to the house." Rapid walking soon brought Spencer to the corner of Seventeenth and H Streets, and hailing a taxicab he gave the chauffeur an address on Nineteenth Street. Fifteen minutes later he was ushered into the presence of Baron Frederic von Fincke. "And how is the excellent Mr. Spencer this morning?" asked von Fincke genially, offering his guest a chair. Spencer, however, remained standing and disregarded the question as well as the chair. "Who is this fellow, Charles Miller?" he asked in his turn. Von Fincke laughed softly. "Consult your 'Who's Who,' my dear friend; do not come to me, an outsider." "You know why I come to you," with pointed accentuation. "I am determined to find out Miller's antecedents, and I am convinced you can tell me if you will." Von Fincke shook his head. "You overrate my powers," he insisted suavely. "I have met Captain Miller as one meets any visitor to this cosmopolitan city. My acquaintance extends no further than our meeting at Miss Grey's dinner at the Chevy Chase Club six weeks ago." Spencer paused in indecision; for the moment, the foreigner's candid manner disarmed his doubts. "Quite sure you can't find out about Miller?" he persisted. "I can but question my few friends in Washington; their information of Captain Miller may be of the vaguest. Why do you not apply to Senator Randall Foster? He and the Captain are what you call--inseparable." "So they are, but I'm not going to Foster for anything." "No?" "_No!_" The repetition was almost a roar. Spencer's temper, always uncertain, had been severely tried that morning, and was rapidly giving way under the strain of bitter disappointment. "I ran up against Foster in those Senate lobby charges, and of all the cantankerous--" He paused expressively, then added, "I used to have a high regard for his sagacity and business judgment until he lost his head over that Grey woman. Because she don't choose to be decently civil, he's turned surly. You wait! I'll bring them to time, and Kathleen Whitney also." "Ah!" "You may 'Ah!' all you wish, but I am going to marry that girl, in spite of her refusal." "And how is that to be accomplished if you have not the young lady's consent?"