Lloyd Pryor stood dumfounded; in his astonishment he almost laughed. But at that instant he heard the crunch of wheels drawing up at the gate. "The stage!" he said to himself, and called out, angrily, "Helena!" But it was not the stage; it was William King's shabby old buggy standing in the shadow of the big locust by the roadside; and there was the doctor himself coming up the path. Lloyd Pryor swore under his breath. The front door was open to the hot June afternoon, and unannounced the doctor walked into the hall. As he took off his hat, he glanced into the parlor, and for a second of consternation stood staring with angry eyes. Then he nodded stiffly. "I will be obliged if you will let Mrs. Richie know I am here." "She is with that boy," said Lloyd Pryor. He made no motion of civility; he stood where Helena had left him, his hands still in his pockets. "Will you be so good as to tell her to come down here to me? The stage is due, and I must see her before I go." William King, red and stolid, nodded again, and went up-stairs without another look into the parlor. While he waited Lloyd Pryor's anger slowly rose. The presence of the doctor froze the tenderness that, for an idle moment, her face and voice and touch had awakened. The annoyance, the embarrassment, the danger of that call, returned in a gust of remembrance. When she came down-stairs, full of eager excuses, the touch of his rage seared her like a flame. "If you will kindly take five minutes from that squalling brat--" "Lloyd, he was in pain. I had to go to him. The instant the doctor came, I left him. I--" "Listen to me, please. I have only a minute. Helena, this friend of yours, this Dr. King, saw fit to pry into my affairs. He came to Philadelphia to look me up--" "_What!_" "He came to my house"--he looked at her keenly through his curling eyelashes--"to my house! Do you understand what that means?" In her dismay she sat down with a sort of gasp; and looking up at him, stammered, "But why? Why?" "Why? Because he is a prying suspicious jackass of a country doctor! He came at exactly six o'clock. It was perfectly evident that he meant to give me the pleasure of his company at dinner." At that she sprang to her feet, her impetuous hands upon his arm. "Then he was not--suspicious! Don't you see? He was only friendly!" She trembled with the reaction of that instant of dismay. "He was not suspicious, or he wouldn't have been--been willing--" Her voice trailed into shamed silence. Lloyd Pryor pushed her hand away, impatiently. "I'm not anxious for his friendship or even his acquaintance. You will please consider what would have happened if I had not come home just as he arrived!" He paused, his voice hardening: "My daughter saw him." Helena stepped back, wincing and silent. "You will be so good as to consider the result of such tomfoolery--to me." "And what about me?" she said. "Your 'daughter'--I suppose you mean Alice--is not the only person in the world!"