And if this was disloyalty to papa, Cally felt that she could not help it.... What, after all, did she know about it? Surely it was all a men's matter, a mere question of "reform," in which some thought one way and some another, and each side said hard things without meaning them exactly. Probably papa would be the last person to wish her to interfere.... "Thank you," he replied, it seemed with feeling in his voice. And walking on, looking straight before him, he added: "There was one thing more ... Ah--pardon me." The young doctor carried a cane, but used it principally for swinging and lunging. In view of his infirmity, Cally had begun by walking more slowly than was her custom. It had soon developed, however, that he was a rapid walker, and of absent-minded habit as well, particularly when talking. So, throughout the brief walk, her difficulty was to keep apace with him. "What you said just now--my scolding you about the Works.... I realize that it must have seemed peculiar to you, and--and--weak--unmanly--my pursuing you so about a--a--purely business matter. Of course you must have felt that if I had criticisms to make, I should have taken them to your father--instead of inflicting them on you, all the time." He paused; but the girl said nothing. She had, in fact, speculated considerably on this very point: how could she possibly have any responsibility for the way papa ran his business? It occurred to her to ask the man plainly whether he considered that she had; but she did not do so, perhaps fearing that he might reply in the affirmative.... "I once tried to explain it, in a way," he went on, hurriedly. "I said that I didn't know your father.... You naturally considered that merely a--a foolish sort of--claim--explaining nothing. I suppose you've forgotten all this, but--" "No, I remember." "Then let me say that--the other day, when I saw you--I had no idea of mentioning the Works to you, other than to explain my position--not an _idea_.... And then, when we talked--well, I did," he said with a kind of naked ingenuousness, as if no one could have been more surprised about it all than he.... "I can't explain it, so that it won't still seem peculiar to you.... It's only that I do feel somehow that--that knowing people makes a great difference--in certain respects...." "I--think I can understand that." "It's generous of you to be willing to try." "No," said Cally, pulling her veil down at the chin, and quickening her steps as he strode on, "I'm only trying to be--reasonable about it." They were passing people now and then in the twilight street, most of whom Cally spoke to; and once she thought how surprised Hugo would be, could he look over from Washington and see her walking amiably in this company. But then Hugo might have thought of these matters last year, when he said she wasn't the girl he had asked to marry him.