"_Au revoir_, then," said the doctor, and he strode off.

"Now, Daisy," said her father, still having his arms about her--"what is
it?" Mrs. Randolph stood by the table and looked coldly down at the
group. Daisy was under great difficulty; that was plain.

"Papa--I wish Ransom could tell you!"

"Where is the boy?"

Mrs. Randolph rang the bell.

"It is no use, mamma; he has gone off with Preston somewhere."

"That is a mere subterfuge, Daisy, to gain time."

Daisy certainly looked troubled enough, and timid also; though her meek
look at her mother did not plead guilty to this accusation.

"Speak, Daisy; the telling whatever there is to tell must come upon
you," her father said. "Your business is to explain the charge Ransom
has brought against you."

All Daisy's meditations had not brought her to the point of knowing what
to say in this conjuncture. She hesitated.

"Speak, Daisy!" her father said peremptorily.

"Papa, they had put me--Eloïse and Theresa Stanfield--they had put me to