Coming down a few moments after, she went straight to the office.
"Patrick," she said, "I have been finding out how Patricia came to be late; and remember, please, that Patricia herself has given me only the barest facts, with no thought of making out a case for herself, but reading between the lines—" and then the doctor was given the opportunity to also read between the lines.
He listened gravely. "I know," he said at last, "it was a very Patricia-like action; still I am afraid I must stand by my word."
"Patrick, I think I shall claim my prerogative."
"Your what?"
"Prerogative—as a grandmother. From time immemorial it has been the right of the grandmother to come to the rescue of the grandchildren."
"But Patricia knows—"
"It is my chance, you see,"—Mrs. Cory had been told why Patricia had run away that first night,—"my chance to prove to Patricia that even if I don't wear a cap and spectacles and all the paraphernalia of the good old-fashioned grandmother, at heart I really am one—just as soft-hearted and unreasonable as any one of them."
"But—"
"Patrick, didn't your grandmother ever get you out of a tight place?"