Five minutes later Kathryn Allen, back in her far corner of the room, paid for her tea and scones and went hurriedly out of the shop. She had never taken her eyes from the two people she had gone there to watch, and bitterly she regretted that she was not a lip-reader. One thought was uppermost in her mind. What hold had Chichester Barnard over Janet Fordyce? CHAPTER XVI A TUG OF WAR REPRESENTATIVE J. CALHOUN-COOPER laid down his pen and regarded his wife in some surprise. “Are you going to church, Augusta?” “No, I attended the morning services.” She ensconced herself in a chair near him. “Pauline told me that you wish to see me.” “Quite right; but I had no idea you were going out,” Calhoun-Cooper hesitated. “However, I will not keep you long. Can you tell me who are Joe’s associates in Washington?” His wife stirred uneasily. “Do you mean men or girls?” “Both.” “Pauline’s friends and mine are his associates,” with an abruptness equal to his own. “Are you quite sure, Augusta?” She changed color under the peculiar emphasis of his voice. “Quite; Joe has been most exemplary in his behavior,” she saw a further question trembling on his lips and forestalled it. “You are never fair to Joe; you take everyone’s word against his. Joe has the making of a splendid man if you didn’t hector him so continuously. Give the boy a chance.” “I have spent years doing it,” Calhoun-Cooper sighed. “Unfortunately Augusta, what you term a ‘chance’ and I term an ‘opportunity’ are not synonymous.” “Your ‘opportunity’ spells work, I presume,” and his wife frowned. “You never recollect Joe’s delicate lungs.” “Delicate fiddlesticks!” interrupted her exasperated husband. “Too much smoking....” “There you go again,” the ready tears filled Mrs. Calhoun-Cooper’s eyes. “Believing tales because you want to....” “Nothing of the sort.” “Then you must be fairer in your treatment of Joe,” protested his wife. “Joe takes after my family, and instead of inheriting your robust health, has our constitutional delicacy.” Calhoun-Cooper glanced with some grimness mixed with amusement, at his wife’s large frame and substantial weight. “Too bad the tendency in your family, when it skipped your generation, didn’t crop out in Pauline,” he commented slowly. “I would like a detailed answer to my question, Augusta. Who are Joe’s particular associates?” “Let me see; Duncan Fordyce and his sister, the Warren girls, Jimmie Painter, and Carroll Logan”--she paused reflectively. “Ever hear of a Miss Kathryn Allen?” asked her husband. “Kathryn Allen? Wasn’t she Joe’s nurse at Garfield....” “So I have heard,” dryly. “I am told the friendship between them has--increased.” “Is Pauline your informant?” demanded his wife, but he pretended not to hear, and she continued hurriedly, “Whatever you hear in that quarter is exaggerated nonsense. Far from spending his time with women, Joe is usually with Chichester Barnard and his other men friends.”