"I was not told to say, Miss. You will find the gentleman in the library." "What if I refuse to go down?" "I should advise against that, Miss." She had a vision of herself carried down, kicking, struggling, to be pitched unceremoniously into some man's presence. It was unendurable. "Say I will be down in a moment," she said. "Thank you, Miss." It was not her father, of course, but who could it be who was allowed to see her? She could not imagine, and speculations were futile. In five minutes she was descending the stairs. At the front door stood the new servant, his eyes upon her respectfully. There obviously was to be no chance to avoid the library for an attempt at the out-of-doors. She walked to the library door and stepped inside. Cantor arose and stepped toward her eagerly, hand extended, his winning smile lighting his face. "Welcome home," he said. "I can't tell you how I've missed you all these months." "How do you do, Mr. Cantor?" she said, unsmiling and somehow unsurprised. She had not expected to see him, yet that it should be he was not astonishing. Indeed, thought she, who else could it have been if--if the thing she had vague reasons for suspecting of this man were true? "I called on your father this morning," he said. "He told me you were at home--that you had run in and surprised him. I asked if he thought you would be receiving so soon, and he was so good as to reassure me. I hope I'm not intruding?" "No," she said. "Won't you sit down?" "Thank you. Shall we sit by the window here?" He looked at her and laughed. "Your father seemed to be in a temper.... Actually he was peevish at you. I really don't think he liked the idea of my coming to call, but I smoothed him down splendidly. He thawed and admitted that you and he had been having a little disagreement." "Did he tell you what the disagreement was?" she said, directly. "No, indeed," said Cantor, with lifted brows, "but I gather he was really angry with you. Said something about shutting you up and that sort of nonsense out of the Victorian era." "If you could see the brand-new lock on my door you wouldn't call it nonsense." "Actually! Well, well, I knew he got pretty savage sometimes, but to lock you in--well, I _am_ astonished. But I'm the prince come to rescue you from the enchantment. Now do you regard me as a particularly steady and trustworthy young man?" "I've never thought about it," she said. "I must be," he said, gaily, "for I suggested taking you for a motor ride, and maybe to dinner some place in the country, and here I am. He was crusty about it for a few minutes, but I convinced him you'd be safe with me."