He bowed over the girl's hand with a great deal of manner, then glanced at once toward the door of the private office. "Hasn't your father come in yet? I have been looking for him since eight o'clock." "My father is not home yet, Mr. Bosworth." "Not home! Do you mean to say that he won't be here to-day?" "I hardly expect him," replied the girl calmly. "Very likely he will be at home to-night or in the morning." Griswold had walked away out of hearing; but he felt that the girl purposely raised her voice so that he might hear what she said. "I must know where he is; there's an important matter waiting--a very serious matter it may prove for him if he isn't here to-day to pass on it. I must wire him at once." "Very good. You had better do so, Mr. Bosworth. He's at the Peach Tree Club, Atlanta." "Atlanta! Do you mean to say that he isn't even in this state to-day?" "No, Mr. Bosworth, and I advise you to telegraph him immediately if your business is so urgent." "It isn't my business, Barbara; it's the state's business; it's your father's business, and if he isn't here to attend to it by to-morrow at the latest, it will go hard with him. He has enemies who will construe his absence as meaning--" He spoke rapidly, with rising anger, but some gesture from the girl arrested him, and he turned frowningly to see Griswold calmly intent upon an engraving at the further end of the room. The colored woman was dozing in her chair. Before Bosworth could resume, the girl spoke, her voice again raised so that every word reached Griswold. "If you refer to the Appleweight case, I must tell you, Mr. Bosworth, that I have all confidence that my father will act whenever he sees fit." "But the people--" "My father is not afraid of the people," said the girl quietly. "But you don't understand, Barbara, how much is at stake here. If some action isn't taken in that matter within twenty-four hours your father will be branded as a coward by every newspaper in the state. You seem to take it pretty coolly, but it won't be a trifling matter for him." "I believe," replied the girl, rising, "that you have said all that I care to hear from you now or at any further time, Mr. Bosworth, about this or any other matter." "But, Barbara--" Miss Osborne turned her back and walked to the window. Bosworth stared a moment, then rushed angrily from the room. Griswold abandoned his study of the picture, and gravely inclined his head as Bosworth passed. Then he waited a minute. The girl still stood at the window, and there was, Griswold felt, something a little forlorn in her figure. It was quite time that he was off if he caught his train for Richmond. He crossed the room, and as he approached the window Miss Osborne turned quickly. "It was kind of you to wait. That man is the state's attorney-general. You doubtless heard what he said to me." "Yes, Miss Osborne, I could not help hearing. I did not leave, because I wished to say--"