Why, I don't suppose Dorothy has had a penny for three months, and you
know the dress material was bought on credit."

"You must remember," chided the mother mildly, "that your father is
not rich."

"Oh, I am only pleading for a little humanity. The girl for some
reason has gone out. She hasn't had a bite to eat since breakfast
time, and I know there's not a silver piece in her pocket to buy a bun
in a milk-shop."

"She has no business to be absent without leave," said Sabina.

"How you talk! As if she were a sailor on a battleship-- I mean a
cruiser."

"Where can the girl have gone?" wailed the mother, almost wringing her
hands, partially overcome by the crisis. "Did she say anything about
going out to you, Katherine? She sometimes makes a confidant of you,
doesn't she?"

"Confidant!" exclaimed Sabina wrathfully.

"I know where she has gone," said Katherine with an innocent sigh.

"Then why didn't you tell us before?" exclaimed mother and daughter in
almost identical terms.

"She has eloped with the captain of the 'Consternation,'" explained
Katherine calmly, little guessing that her words contained a color of