"I feel that every day counts," said Mrs. Lowell. "He must be removed from that mental malaria as soon as possible."
"I will—" began Diana, and then she glanced at her mother,—"I mean Mamma will gladly finance him, I'm sure, for the present."
"Perhaps," said Mrs. Wilbur with dignity, "when you see fit to tell me the whole story. I'm sure I haven't it yet."
"There is no reason to burden you, Mamma, with disagreeable considerations," said Diana meekly. "I can myself look after the boy's needs."
"Yes, she can," said Mrs. Wilbur in an offended tone. "What do you think, Mr. Wrenn, of a father who insists on giving a young girl an unlimited check-book, not requiring her to give any account of what she does with money?"
The lawyer smiled at the embarrassed culprit. "I think that your husband has proved himself a very good reader of character all through his career."
Mrs. Wilbur bounced back into her corner. She didn't intend to bounce; she intended to lean back gracefully, with an air of renouncing all interest in this matter which had proceeded so far without her coöperation, but just at that moment the car went over a "thank-you-ma'am."
As has already been said, Luther Wrenn, the following morning, sought his office at an earlier hour than was customary, and Nicholas Gayne was there before him.
He did not keep him waiting long, and the stocky figure and dark face soon appeared in the private office.