o
say for myself."

It was very seldom that he received a written invitation from his
sister-in-law, but he heard from her in these hot days of June that she
particularly wished to see him as soon as possible. The message he
thought, must have some reference to Mrs. Clover's husband, whose
reappearance at any moment would have been no great surprise, even
after an absence of six years. Mr. Sparkes had a strong objection to
mysterious persons; he was all for peace and comfort in a familiar
routine, and for his own part had often hoped that the man Clover was
by this time dead and buried. Responding as soon as possible to Mrs.
Clover's summons, he found that she wished to speak to him about his
daughter. Mrs. Clover showed herself seriously disturbed by Polly's
recent behaviour; she told of the newly-acquired jewellery, of the
dresses in which Miss Sparkes went "flaunting," of the girl's scornful
refusal to answer natural inquiries.

"The long and the short of it is, Ebenezer, you ought to see her, and
find out what's going on. There may be nothing wrong, and I don't say
there is; but that watch and chain of hers wasn't bought under twenty
pounds--that I'll answer for, and it's a very queer thing, to say the
least of it. What business was it of mine, she asked. I shouldn't
wonder if she says the same to you; but it's your plain duty to have a
talk with her, don't you think so now?"

To have a talk with Polly, especially on such a subject, was no easy or
pleasant undertaking for Mr. Sparkes, who had so long resigned all
semblance of parental authority. But as a conscientious man he could
not stand aside when his only surviving daughter seemed in peril. After
an exchange of post cards a meeting took place between them on the
Embankment below Waterloo Bridge, for neither father nor child had
anything in the nature of a home beyond the indispensable bedroom, and
their only chance of privacy was in the open air. Having no desire to
quarrel with her parent (it would have been so very one-sided and
uninspiriting) Polly began in a conciliatory tone.

"Aunt Louisa's been making a bother, has she? Just like her. Don't you
listen to her fussicking, dad. What's all the row about? I've had a
present given to me; well, what of that? You can look at it for
yourself. I can't tell you who give it me, 'cos I've promised I
wouldn't; but you'll know some day, and then you'll larff. It ain't
nothing to fret your gizzard about; so there.