"Felicity, I am disappointed in you--more than disappointed--wounded--cut to the heart--scandalised!" He turned away, then, coming back, he seized the morning paper, and with a parting glance of reproach went into his study and closed the door. His words, his manner of retreat, were a challenge to follow which she meant to accept. A few moments later, she flung back the door of her father's study and confronted him, intensely angry, and strikingly beautiful in her anger. "Scandalised!" she echoed, as if no time had elapsed since he uttered the word. "What do you mean by that?" The apparition was not unexpected, but the bishop, glancing over the top of his paper, managed to convey his surprise with the subtlety of which he was master. Chagrined by his conduct at the table, he had fortified himself in the interim against a renewal of the struggle. "I used the word advisedly," he replied with dignity. "You might come in and close the door. It is just as well, perhaps, not to take the servants into our confidence." She accepted the suggestion and sat confronting him expectantly, her anger ebbing away imperceptibly in the pause until only the underlying dread remained. "Who was the man that came in with you last night?" he asked with authority. "You went out about half-past nine o'clock to Mrs. Parr's, as I supposed, and returned at midnight, not alone. I might have thought that Mr. Parr had seen you home, but I looked from my window, and though I could n't hear what you said--but never mind that. You will do me the justice to admit that I have never pried into your affairs or actions. Until recently such a question as I have now thought it my duty to ask would never have occurred to me." "It was Mayor Emmet," she answered in a thin voice. She was panic-stricken, and her heart beat to suffocation. "Emmet!" he echoed. "Who did you think it was?" she asked, with a wan smile. "Never mind--never mind," he returned impatiently. "Ah, I begin to see more clearly. What was it you said he wanted with you here the other morning? Some trivial thing--I can't remember. Now I want to know at once--I have a right to know--whether there is anything between you and that man. It is n't possible--I am ashamed to ask--but your face betrays you. You are n't--Felicity--you can't imagine yourself in love with such a fellow?" "Perhaps it would be better if I could," she answered desperately, "but I can't. Father, you must control yourself. I used to think myself in love with him, and--and--and I was very foolish"-- "How foolish?" His face had grown white, and he steadied his hands on the arms of his chair. "Don't torture me, Felicity. Tell me the worst at once." "I married him." At the words his paleness became ashen, and the rigidity of his features was so ghastly that, forgetting everything else in her alarm, she ran to his assistance. He waved her away angrily. "No--I am not going to faint--and I don't want anything to drink."