``But--oh, so weak! I have the sense that I am doing wrong--that
we are both doing wrong.''

``Why? Aren't you free?''

``No, I am not free. As I've told you, I belong to a cause--to a
career.''

``But I won't hinder you there. I'll help you.''

``Why go over that again? You know better--I know better.''
Abruptly, ``Your father--what time does he get home for dinner?''

``He didn't go down town to-day,'' replied Jane. ``He's not
well--not at all well.''

Victor looked baffled. ``I was about to propose that we go
straight to him.''

If he had been looking at Jane, he might have seen the fleeting
flash of an expression that betrayed that she had suspected the
object of his inquiry.

``You will not go with me to your father?''

``Not when he is ill,'' said she. ``If we told him, it might
kill him. He has ambitions--what he regards as ambitions--for
me. He admires you, but--he doesn't admire your ideas.''

``Then,'' said Victor, following his own train of thought, ``we