"Do not count it against me," he urged quickly. "Your father came to me of himself, asking for help. I did it for you."
"You would have served me better by refusing. But Mr. Ellis, the money shall be paid."
"Paid with money?" he asked. With clenched hands he turned upon the Colonel. "Oh, you fool!"
"Father!" cried Judith, and stepped between them to restrain the burst of military wrath which should cast Ellis from the house. But to her amazement her father stood motionless, almost cringing. Then first she recognised the slow degeneration which in all these years had been going on beneath the unchanged exterior. "Father!" she said again, but now in pity, and took her place at his side. She felt, as he made a little movement toward her, his gratitude for the protection—another revelation of his loss of manliness. "Mr. Ellis, there is nothing further to say."
"Oh, you have led me on to this!" he cried. "Was it put up between you? Such a way to gain money!"
Instinctively she took her father's arm, to hold him; again he proved, by his passivity, that his spirit was all gone. "Will you leave us?" she asked coldly.
"Oh!" Ellis cried, shaking with anger and carried away. "You put it on well! Because I am not one of you, you tricked me, then? And was it Mather all the time? But my turn is coming!" He would have said more, but she left her father and went toward the door. Then he saw how hopelessly he was cutting himself off from her. "Oh, forgive me—Judith! I am frantic."
But she turned at the door, and standing like an angry goddess, pointed into the hallway. "Go!" she commanded.
"Miss Blanchard!" he exclaimed in consternation.