"It is—to Hildreth."
"Why did you send him so—well, so curious a message, then?"
"Because I wanted him to know that I knew who was coming and by what trains."
"Didn't you get the information from him?"
"No, dear. He didn't know it himself till he telegraphed for them an hour ago, when we were at tea."
"Then how on earth did you find it out?"
"I pay for my education, dear, as I go on. The little note I burned in the kitchen brought me the information."
"But why did you treat Mr. Hildreth's message so—well, so curtly? I'm sure—"
"My dear, let me tell you a story. There was once a rich man and a poor man. The rich man wanted to make use of the poor man, and he carefully arranged matters so as to make himself the poor man's master. When he had things all ready, he went to the poor man and told him about it. He promised to be a kind master and to pay the poor man well for serving him. But the poor man was constituted a little curiously. He didn't like to have a master, even a kind one who paid him well. He liked to be master himself, and so he carefully arranged matters so as to make himself the rich man's master. When he had matters in readiness, he sent a reply to one of the rich man's orders, which let the rich man know that the poor man was master now. That's a little fable. But fables are often true."