"How DARE you!" The old man rose and went up to him, eyes
blazing scorn. "You deceive others, but not me with my
daughter's welfare as my first duty. It is an insult to her that
you presume to lift your eyes to her."

Dumont colored and haughtily raised his head. He met the
colonel's fiery gaze without flinching.

"I was no worse than other young men--"

"It's a slander upon young men for you to say that they--that
any of them with a spark of decency--would do as you have done,
as you DO! Leave my office at once, sir!"

"I've not only repented--I've shown that I was ashamed of--of
that," said Dumont. "Yet you refuse me a chance!"

The colonel was shaking with anger.

"You left here for New York last Thursday night," he said.
"Where and how did you spend Saturday night and Sunday and
Monday?"

Dumont's eyes shifted and sank.

"It's false," he muttered. "It's lies."

"I expected this call from you," continued Colonel Gardiner,
"and I prepared for it so that I could do what was right. I'd