She opened her eyes incredulously, and pushing back his chair, he rose
petulantly to his feet.

"Felicity, I am disappointed in you--more than disappointed--wounded--cut
to the heart--scandalised!"

He turned away, then, coming back, he seized the morning paper, and with
a parting glance of reproach went into his study and closed the door.
His words, his manner of retreat, were a challenge to follow which she
meant to accept. A few moments later, she flung back the door of her
father's study and confronted him, intensely angry, and strikingly
beautiful in her anger.

"Scandalised!" she echoed, as if no time had elapsed since he uttered the
word. "What do you mean by that?"

The apparition was not unexpected, but the bishop, glancing over the top
of his paper, managed to convey his surprise with the subtlety of which
he was master. Chagrined by his conduct at the table, he had fortified
himself in the interim against a renewal of the struggle.

"I used the word advisedly," he replied with dignity. "You might come in
and close the door. It is just as well, perhaps, not to take the
servants into our confidence."

She accepted the suggestion and sat confronting him expectantly, her
anger ebbing away imperceptibly in the pause until only the underlying
dread remained.

"Who was the man that came in with you last night?" he asked with
authority. "You went out about half-past nine o'clock to Mrs. Parr's, as
I supposed, and returned at midnight, not alone. I might have thought
that Mr. Parr had seen you home, but I looked from my window, and though
I could n't hear what you said--but never mind that. You will do me the
justice to admit that I have never pried into your affairs or actions.
Until recently such a question as I have now thought it my duty to ask
would never have occurred to me."

"It was Mayor Emmet," she answered in a thin voice. She was
panic-stricken, and her heart beat to suffocation.

"Emmet!" he echoed.

"Who did you think it was?" she asked, with a wan smile.

"Never mind--never mind," he returned impatiently. "Ah, I begin to see
more clearly. What was it you said he wanted with you here the other
morning? Some trivial thing--I can't remember. Now I want to know at
once--I have a right to know--whether there is anything between you and
that man. It is n't possible--I am ashamed to ask--but your face betrays
you. You are n't--Felicity--you can't imagine yourself in love with suc