The colonel did not fail to drive home the inevitable moral, and congratulated himself upon his daughter's escape. Dora was obliged to acknowledge that Dick, if not a villain, was at least a fool. The sorrow he had brought upon his father and mother was alone sufficient to warrant the heartiest condemnation. The colonel was never tired of commenting on the awful change in the mother's appearance and the blight upon John Swinton, who went about like a condemned man, evading his friends, and scarcely daring to look his parishioners in the face. There had been talk of a memorial service in the parish church, but nothing came of it. Its abandonment was looked upon as a tacit recognition of a painful situation, which would only be augmented by a public parade of sorrow. Ormsby treated Dora with the greatest consideration. No lover could have been more sympathetic--not a word about Dick Swinton or the seven thousand dollars. He laid himself out to please, and self-confidence made him almost gay--if gaiety could ever be associated with a man so somber and proud. The colonel persisted in throwing his daughter and the banker together in a most marked fashion, and Ormsby was at much pains to ignore the father's blundering diplomacy. As a result of his skilled tactics, Dora had ceased to shrink away from him--because she no longer feared that he would make love to her. She laughed at her father's insinuations, because it was easier to laugh than to go away and cry. She put a brave face on things--for Dick's sake. She did not want it to be thought that he had spread around more ruin and misery than already stood to his credit at the rectory. Pride played its part. She supposed Ormsby understood that the idea of his being a lover was absurd. In this, she was rudely awakened one evening after the banker had dined at the house. The colonel pleaded letters to write, and begged Dora to play a little and entertain their guest. "Ormsby loves a cigarette over the fire, Dora, and he's fond of music. I shall be able to hear you up in the study." Ormsby added his entreaties, and the colonel left them alone.