In accordance with this, he took occasion to come up from his factory on three different evenings, each time carefully surveying the house, in order to discover whether any visitor was being entertained. On the fourth evening Brander came, and inquiring for Jennie, who was exceedingly nervous, he took her out for a walk. She was afraid of her father, lest some unseemly things should happen, but did not know exactly what to do. Gerhardt, who was on his way to the house at the time, observed her departure. That was enough for him. Walking deliberately in upon his wife, he said: “Where is Jennie?” “She is out somewhere,” said her mother. “Yes, I know where,” said Gerhardt. “I saw her. Now wait till she comes home. I will tell him.” He sat down calmly, reading a German paper and keeping an eye upon his wife, until, at last, the gate clicked, and the front door opened. Then he got up. “Where have you been?” he exclaimed in German. Brander, who had not suspected that any trouble of this character was pending, felt irritated and uncomfortable. Jennie was covered with confusion. Her mother was suffering an agony of torment in the kitchen. “Why, I have been out for a walk,” she answered confusedly. “Didn’t I tell you not to go out any more after dark?” said Gerhardt, utterly ignoring Brander. Jennie colored furiously, unable to speak a word. “What is the trouble?” inquired Brander gravely. “Why should you talk to her like that?” “She should not go out after dark,” returned the father rudely. “I have told her two or three times now. I don’t think you ought to come here any more, either.” “And why?” asked the Senator, pausing to consider and choose his words. “Isn’t this rather peculiar? What has your daughter done?” “What has she done!” exclaimed Gerhardt, his excitement growing under the strain he was enduring, and speaking almost unaccented English in consequence. “She is running around the streets at night when she oughtn’t to be. I don’t want my daughter taken out after dark by a man of your age. What do you want with her anyway? She is only a child yet.” “Want!” said the Senator, straining to regain his ruffled dignity. “I want to talk with her, of course. She is old enough to be interesting to me. I want to marry her if she will have me.” “I want you to go out of here and stay out of here,” returned the father, losing all sense of logic, and descending to the ordinary level of parental compulsion. “I don’t want you to come around my house any more. I have enough trouble without my daughter being taken out and given a bad name.” “I tell you frankly,” said the Senator, drawing himself up to his full height, “that you will have to make clear your meaning. I have done nothing that I am ashamed of. Your daughter has not come to any harm through me. Now, I want to know what you mean by conducting yourself in this manner.”