"Nor do I. I have come to you at the risk of being thought a meddling old fool! But the fact is, I have several times lately heard your name mentioned in connection with William's, and recently there came into my possession this packet of letters addressed to my son in a feminine hand and bearing the Manton crest." The girl's face flushed as she took the proffered packet and waited for him to continue. "Fred Manton was my best friend," went on the old man, "and I won't see harm come to his daughter, if I can prevent it. You two may be just friends; you may be engaged--or married, for all I know. My son never deemed it worth while to take me into his confidence. In either case, I am here--and I will have my say. I shall put myself in the place of your father and speak as, I believe, he would have spoken. I may seem harsh and bitter toward my own son, but remember, Miss Ethel, I have had vastly more experience in the ways of the world than you have--and I know whereof I speak. "Slight as is the difference between your ages, you are but an inexperienced girl, as the world knows experience, and William is a man--and a man, I am sorry to say, who is no fit associate for a woman like you." Surprised and perplexed the girl felt her anger rise against this man. Instinctively she rallied to Bill's defense: "He is not bad at heart!" she said resentfully. "What worse can you say?" returned Carmody with a harsh laugh. "Of all expressions coined to damn a man with faint praise, there is only one more effective: 'He means well.'" Ethel was thoroughly angry now. She drew herself up, and her blue eyes darkened as she faced him. "That is not so!" she cried. "Bill is _not_ bad at heart! And he _does_ mean well! Whose fault is it that he has grown up reckless and wild? Who is to blame? What chance has he had? What have you done for him? Filled his pockets with money and packed him off to school. Filled his pockets with money and sent him to college. Filled his pockets with money and shipped him abroad. "Then, without consulting his taste or desire, you peremptorily thrust him into a business which he loathes--on an office boy's salary and an allowance out of all proportion to his requirements. "You say he has never taken you into his confidence. Have you ever invited that confidence? Have you ever sought his companionship--even his acquaintance?" The man was astonished at her vehemence. Uncomfortably he found himself forced to the defensive.