'What relations between Milly and young Burgess?' he questioned stolidly.
'Why, Jack,' she said, 'you know as much as I do. Why does Harry come here so often?'
'He'd better not come here so often. What's Milly? She's nothing but a child.'
Leonora made no attempt to argue with him. 'As for Ethel,' she said softly, 'she's at a difficult age, and you must be careful——'
'As for Ethel,' he interrupted, 'I'll turn Fred Ryley out of my office to-morrow.'
She tried to look grave and sympathetic, to use all her tact. 'But won't that make difficulties with Uncle Meshach? And people might say you had dismissed him because Uncle Meshach had altered his will.'
'D——n Fred Ryley!' he swore, unable to reply to this. 'D——n him!'
He walked to and fro in the room, and all his secret, profound resentment against Ryley surged up, loose and uncontrolled.
'Wouldn't it be better to take Ethel away from the works?' Leonora suggested.
'No,' he answered doggedly. 'Not for a moment! Can't I have my own daughter in my own office because Fred Ryley is on the place? A pretty thing!'