"I know all that. But who is he?"
"I refuse to tell you."
"Will you refuse to tell your daughter?" sneered his sister.
Cass looked up quickly, and something of dismay came over his face. "Ruth--what has Ruth to do with him?"
"This much. They are in love with one another; they are secretly engaged. Is that a sufficient excuse for my seeing you to-night?"
"I don't believe it. Webster would not----"
"Oh, as to that, I don't know what hold you have over him."
"Hold!" repeated Mr. Cass, rising and beginning to pace the room in an agitated manner. "What do you mean? I have no hold."
"In that case you should not have thrown him into the society of an impressionable fool like Ruth. I got the truth out of her to-night, though I had long suspected it. She loves him; and what's more she will defy you and marry him."
"That she shall never do:" he said vehemently.