"No,--that was the trouble," flushed the boy. "Maybe at first she had wondered a bit if I'd really have the nerve--I don't know. But by the time I'd got there she'd started for bed. Was in her wrapper, I mean, with her hair down. Bare feet, you know, and all that sort of thing. And when I opened the window and slipped in across the edge she started to scream. Knew who I was all at once and all that--but the scream got started first. And I knew, of course, that wouldn't do, so I jumped and caught her in my arms to try and smother it out. And the door opened--and in walked President Merriwayne [17] herself. I don't know what she was doing there in that dormitory at that time of night. It may have been just accident or somebody may have overheard us fooling out on the front steps the hour before--I don't know. It just happened--that's all," said the boy. "And there was an awful scene, of course. Things said, I mean, that I shouldn't have supposed a woman would say to a young girl. And two or three teachers or proctors came running in. And there was a faculty meeting later of course. And somebody blabbed to a chambermaid and the chambermaid blabbed to somebody else. And a reporter got hold of it and----" "And a reporter got hold of it?" said the man. "Yes," shivered the boy. "Pictures?" asked the man. "Yes," said the boy. "Pretty horrid?" said the man. "Very horrid," said the boy. For an instant there seemed to be no sound at all in the room except the sound of flame sucking at the birch juices on the hearth. [18] Then the man looked up sharply from the birch log to the boy's quivering face. "Well--was the roast chicken good?" he asked. "_S--ir_?" stammered the boy. "And so----?" prompted the man. From the boy's lips a long shuddering sigh escaped. "And so," said the boy, "I have ruined your daughter's life." "And what do you propose to do about it?" asked the man. With a quick squaring of his shoulders the boy drew his fine young body to its full height. "I propose to do whatever you want me to do," he said. "Such as what?" asked the man. "Such as anything!" said the boy. Almost imperceptibly his breath quickened. "Why, when I came here just now," he cried, "I came, of course, expecting to be stormed at, to be cursed, to be insulted, to be told I was a liar, to have everything I said or did rammed down my throat again! But you?----All you've done is just to listen to me! And believe me! And laugh! It's as though I'd hurt you so much you were sorriest of all [19] for me--and were trying every darned way you knew to keep me from going mad! It's as though----" From the sudden slight sag of his shoulders he rallied again with a gesture of folded arms and finality. "I tell you I want to do whatever you want me to do," he repeated quite simply. "Have you talked with anyone--about this?" asked the man. "Just with my brother," said the boy. "And what did he say?" asked the man.