His silence made I. Tapp even
angrier.

"But it makes no difference--no difference at all, I tell you. If she
was the queen of Sheba I'd say the same," went on the candy
manufacturer wildly. "I've said you shall marry Dorothy Johnson--I've
always meant you should; and marry her you shall!"

"No, dad, I'm not going to do any such thing."

Suddenly the Taffy King quieted down. He struggled to control his
voice and his shaking hands. A deadly calm mantled his excitement and
his eyes glittered as he gazed up at his tall son.

"Is this a straight answer, Lawford? Or are you just talking to hear
yourself talk?" he asked coldly.

"I am determined not to marry Dot."

"And you'll marry that other girl?"

"If she'll have me. But whether or no I won't be forced into marriage
with a girl I do not love."

"Love!" exploded the Taffy King. Then in a moment he was calm again,
only for that inward glow of rage. "People don't really love each
other until after marriage. Love is born of propinquity and thrives on
usage and custom. You only _think_ you love this girl. It's after two
people have been through a good deal together that they learn what love
means."

Lawford was somewhat startled by this philosophy; but he was by no
means convinced.

"Whether or no," he repeated, "I think I should have the same right
that you had of choosing a wife."

His father brushed this aside without comment. "Do you understand what
this means--if you are determined to disobey me?" he snarled.

"I suppose you won't begrudge me a bite and sup till I find a job,
dad?" the son said with just a little tremor in his voice. "I know I
haven't really anything of my own. You have done everything for me.
Your money bought the very clothes I stand in. You gave me the means
to buy the _Merry Andrew_. I realize that nothing I have called my own
actually belongs to me because I did not earn it----"

"As long as you are amenable to discipline," put in his father
gloomily, "you need not feel this way."

"But I do feel it now," said Lawford simply. "You have made me. And,
as I say, I'll need to live, I suppose, till I get going for myself."

His father winced again. Then suddenly burst out:

"D'you think for a minute that that society girl will stand for your
getting a job and trying to support her on your wages?"

"She will if she loves me."

"You poor ninny!" burst out I. Tapp. "You've got about as much idea of
women as you h