oo, by her unconventional appearance?"

He was arraigning his parent now with open severity.

"How about my shock, Ben? I'm old-fashioned, you know. You come, leading
that odd little waif and displaying so much--well, enthusiasm, wasn't
it--wasn't the whole thing a little extreme?"

"Yes, the situation was certainly very extreme. An old rascal had
managed to capture that flower of a girl, and made her believe that to
save her dead father's good name she must marry him. I come along with
the Scout and pick her up out of a field where she was walking, he
running, and yelling, and firing his gun at us. There was scarcely time
for her to put on a traveling costume to accord with your ideas of
decorum, was there?"

Mrs. Barry's eyes widened as they gazed into his accusing ones.

"How dreadful," she said.

"Yes; and even in all her relief at escaping, Miss Melody was in doubt
as to whether she was not deserting her father's cause--torn, as the
books say, with conflicting emotions. You may think it was all very
pleasant."

"Benny, I think it was dreadful! Awfully hard for you, dear; and, oh,
that wretch might have disabled the plane and hurt you! Why did I ever
let you have it?"

"To save her! That's why you let me have it."

His mother regarded his glowing face. "What a wretched mess!" she was
thinking. "What a bother that the girl is so pretty!"

"You remember the other evening when I came home from that motor-cycle
trip, and the next day Miss Upton came and told you Miss Melody's
story?"

"Yes, dear." Mrs. Barry added apologetically, "I'm afraid I didn't pay
strict attention."

"Well, it is a pity that you did not, for I've known ever since that day
that Geraldine Melody is the only girl I shall ever marry."

His mother's heart beat faster as she marked the expression in those
steady, young eyes.

There was silence for a space between them. She was the first to speak,
and she did so with a cool, unsmiling demeanor which reminded him of
childhood days when he was in disgrace.

"Then you care nothing for what sort of mind and character are possessed
by your future wife. The skin-deep part is all that interests you."

"That's what she said," he responded quickly. "I suggested that she put
affairs in a shape where it would be of no use for an irritating
conscience to try to make trouble. I urged her to marry me this
afternoon before we came home."

Mrs. Barry's nonchalance deserted her with a rush. Her fac