that she
did not betray the terrible anxiety she felt. The Ryder biography
was nearly finished and her stay in Seventy-fourth Street would
soon come to an end. She had a serious talk with Jefferson, who
contrived to see a good deal of her, entirely unsuspected by his
parents, for Mr. and Mrs. Ryder had no reason to believe that
their son had any more than a mere bowing acquaintance with the
clever young authoress. Now that Mr. Bagley was no longer there to
spy upon their actions these clandestine interviews had been
comparatively easy. Shirley brought to bear all the arguments she
could think of to convince Jefferson of the hopelessness of their
engagement. She insisted that she could never be his wife;
circumstances over which they had no control made that dream
impossible. It were better, she said, to part now rather than
incur the risk of being unhappy later. But Jefferson refused to be
convinced. He argued and pleaded and he even swore--strange,
desperate words that Shirley had never heard before and which
alarmed her not a little--and the discussion ended usually by a
kiss which put Shirley completely _hors de combat_.

Meantime, John Ryder had not ceased worrying about his son. The
removal of Kate Roberts as a factor in his future had not
eliminated the danger of Jefferson taking the bit between his
teeth one day and contracting a secret marriage with the daughter
of his enemy, and when he thought of the mere possibility of such
a thing happening he stormed and raved until his wife, accustomed
as she was to his choleric outbursts, was thoroughly frightened.
For some time after Bagley's departure, father and son got along
together fairly amicably, but Ryder, Sr. was quick to see that
Jefferson had something on his mind which was worrying him, and he
rightly attributed it to his infatuation for Miss Rossmore. He was
convinced that his son knew where the judge's daughter was,
although his own efforts to discover her whereabouts had been
unsuccessful. Sergeant Ellison had confessed absolute failure;
Miss Rossmore, he reported, had disappeared as completely as if
the earth had swallowed her, and further search was futile.
Knowing well his son's impulsive, headstrong disposition, Ryder,
Sr. believed him quite capable of marrying the girl secretly any
time. The only thing that John Ryder did not know was that Shirley
Rossmore was not the kind of a girl to allow any man to inveigle
her into a secret marriage. The Colos