"She fell on the radiator," went on Marian, "an' I told her not to----" "It's all right now." Charles set Letty on her feet, and patted her damp head. "But you surely ought to insist on that woman's filling your place, since you aren't here." "I shall." Catherine's eyes sought his with a defiant entreaty. "It isn't very serious, after all," she finished, in white quiet. As she went into her room to leave her wraps and brush up her hair, she found her hands trembling, and her knees. She sat down at the window for a moment. Of course, she thought, they are my responsibility. That's only just. But he needn't hurry so to hold me up to blame. As if they planned it--a staged rebuke for my entrance. Spencer was at the door, his eyes large and serious. "Hello, son!" Catherine shoved aside the tight bitterness, and smiled. "Oh, Moth-er!" He ran across to her, burying his head for a brief instant on her shoulder. "I thought--I thought she was dead. Only she hollered too loud." "I'm sorry, dear." Catherine hugged him. "But it's all right." "And"--Spencer's lower lip quivered--"Daddy said why didn't I watch her if she didn't have a mother. She's got a mother, and I was just sitting there reading." "Letty's all right now. Come, we must broil that steak! Aren't you hungry?" Dinner was ready, all but the steak. Catherine felt that she thrust her hands violently into a patch of nettles and yanked them away, as she cajoled her family back into calm humor. Charles, carving the steak, suddenly lost his air of grave reproach, and began a story about a family with two sets of twins that he had seen on the train. With a sigh, Catherine relaxed her grip on the nettles. She might run into them, later! "We looked for you all day yesterday," she said, finally. "Several of the men stayed over, and I had a fine chance to talk with them. Brown of Cornell, and Davitts." "Mr. Bill came in, Daddy, and showed me how to build a bridge." "He thought he'd seen you Friday," said Catherine idly, "but I told him you went at one." "Oh, yes." Charles was casual. "I missed that train. So I went around to the clinic." His voice was too casual! And the swift glance he shot at Catherine as she rose. IV "I've got to run over those lecture notes." Charles stretched lazily up from the table. "They need freshening a bit." "You found them, then?" Catherine had Letty in her arms, soft and sweetly heavy with drowsiness. "Yes. I'd forgotten about carrying them over to the office." "I was in the sacred sanctum of the President's office when you called." "Oh, that's all right. I found them in time." Charles strolled out of the room. "Daddy!" Spencer followed him. "Couldn't I show you my bridges and things? I can make anything." "Not to-night, Spencer. Daddy's got to work."