"Why--yes,--the English professor--at college,--don't you remember?" faltered the girl. "Don't--don't you want to know about John?" "No, I don't!" said the man. "There's nothing important about 'John' that 'John' won't have a chance to show for himself--in this immediate situation." "Isn't it--isn't it--Hell?" quivered the girl. "N--o--o," said her father. "I shouldn't consider it just Hell. But I admit it's something of a poser for a man in John's position. He's one of the faculty of course?" "Yes," said the girl. "And was at the faculty meeting--presumably when----" "Yes," said the girl. "Was your engagement--announced?" asked her father quite abruptly. "Generally known, I mean, among the girls?" "No--not--exactly," said the girl. "U--m--m," said her father. From his wordless stare at the wall he glanced down a [33] bit sharply at the wan little face before him. "Heard from him yet?" he demanded. "No, not yet," said the girl. "Why he doesn't know where I am! Nobody knows where I am, I tell you! I just ran away, I tell you! I didn't even wait to pack! I--I----But, of course, I _will_ hear!" she asserted passionately. "I will! I _will_! It isn't that I expect to--to marry him now," she explained piteously. "Nobody of course--would want to marry me now. It's only that----" Before the sudden rush of color to her face her father gave a little startled gasp. "Hanged if you're not pretty!" he said. "Shockingly pretty!" With an almost amused interest his eyes swept down across the exquisite little face and figure all muffled up to the tips of its ears in the great blue puffy-quilt against the snow-white pillows. "Truly when I came in here just now," he laughed, "I thought a magazine-cover had come to life on my bed!" With the laughter still on his lips all the mischief went suddenly out of his eyes. "You heard what I said just now about going South to-morrow?" he asked a [34] bit trenchantly. "I'm sorry if it seems peremptory. But my plans have been made for some time. I had intended to take only--Creep-Mouse with me." "Creep-Mouse?" questioned the girl. "Oh, of course, there are a dozen other dogs up country that I could choose from," reflected her father with a somewhat frowning introspection. "But when it comes to traveling about and putting up with things, Creep-Mouse alone combines the essential characteristics of an undauntable disposition--with folding legs." "Oh, of course, I can't speak too positively about my undauntable disposition," rallied the girl with the faintest possible smile, "but I certainly will try to take the hint about the folding legs----"