vagaries, she was the
pride and interest of this home, and she knew it.

It was in this direction that her mind was running when her father, a
few days after the dreadful exposure in the Sixth Street house, sent for
her to come to him in his room. He had come home from his office very
early in the afternoon, hoping to find Aileen there, in order that he
might have a private interview with her, and by good luck found her in.
She had had no desire to go out into the world these last few days--she
was too expectant of trouble to come. She had just written Cowperwood
asking for a rendezvous out on the Wissahickon the following afternoon,
in spite of the detectives. She must see him. Her father, she said, had
done nothing; but she was sure he would attempt to do something. She
wanted to talk to Cowperwood about that.

"I've been thinkin' about ye, Aileen, and what ought to be done in this
case," began her father without preliminaries of any kind once they were
in his "office room" in the house together. "You're on the road to ruin
if any one ever was. I tremble when I think of your immortal soul. I
want to do somethin' for ye, my child, before it's too late. I've been
reproachin' myself for the last month and more, thinkin', perhaps, it
was somethin' I had done, or maybe had failed to do, aither me or your
mother, that has brought ye to the place where ye are to-day. Needless
to say, it's on me conscience, me child. It's a heartbroken man you're
lookin' at this day. I'll never be able to hold me head up again. Oh,
the shame--the shame! That I should have lived to see it!"

"But father," protested Aileen, who was a little distraught at the
thought of having to listen to a long preachment which would relate to
her duty to God and the Church and her family and her mother and him.
She realized that all these were important in their way; but Cowperwood
and his point of view had given her another outlook on life. They had
discussed this matter of families--parents, children, husbands, wives,
brothers, sisters--from almost every point of view. Cowperwood's
laissez-faire attitude had permeated and colored her mind completely.
She saw things through his cold, direct "I satisfy myself" attitude. He
was sorry for all the little differences of personality that sprang
up between people, causing quarrels, bickerings, oppositions, and
separation; but they could not be helped. People outgrew each other.
Their points of view altered at va