at moment Stephen's voice reached them from the adjoining room.

"I tell you I shall, Caro!" it proclaimed, fiercely. "Do you suppose
I'm going to permit that fellow to come here again--or to go until he is
made to understand what we think of him and why? No, by gad! I'm the man
of this family, and I'll tell him a few things."

Pearson's jaw set grimly.

"You may let go of my wrist, Captain Warren," he said; "I'll stay."

Possibly Stephen's intense desire to prove his manliness made him
self-conscious. At any rate, he never appeared more ridiculously boyish
than when, an instant later, he marched into the library and confronted
his uncle and Pearson.

"I--I want to say--" he began, majestically; "I want to say--"

He paused, choking, and brandished his fist.

"I want to say--" he began again.

"All right, Stevie," interrupted the captain, dryly, "then I'd say it if
I was you. I guess it's time you did."

"I want to--to tell that fellow _there_," with a vicious stab of his
forefinger in the direction of Pearson, "that I consider him an--an
ingrate--and a scoundrel--and a miserable--"

"Steady!" Captain Elisha's interruption was sharp this time. "Steady
now! Leave out the pet names. What is it you've got to tell?"

"I--my sister and I have found out what a scoundrel he is, that's what!
We've learned of the lies he wrote about father. We know that he was
responsible for all that cowardly, lying stuff in the _Planet_--all that
about the Trolley Combine. And we don't intend that he shall sneak into
this house again. If he was the least part of a man, he would never have
come."

"Mr. Warren--" began Pearson, stepping forward. The captain interrupted.

"Hold on, Jim!" he said. "Just a minute now. You've learned somethin',
you say, Stevie. The Dunns told you, I s'pose."

"Never mind who told me!"

"I don't--much. But I guess we'd better have a clear understandin', all
of us. Caroline, will you come in here, please?"

He stepped toward the door. Stephen sprang in front of him.

"My sister doesn't intend to cheapen herself by entering that man's
presence," he declared, hotly. "I'll deal with him, myself!"

"All right. But I guess she'd better be here, just the same. Caroline, I
want you."

"She sha'n't come!"

"Yes, she shall. Caroline!"

The boy would have detained him, but he pushed him firmly aside and
walked toward the door. Before he reached it, however, his niece
appeared.

"Well?" she said, cold