The girl lifted her head proudly. "No one pays them sir; I am supporting myself."
The man looked at her in amazement. "Do you mean that your position here is that of a common servant?"
"There are worse positions," she replied sadly. "The people here are very kind to me."
"But think of your family; you are a disgrace to us all. What can I tell them when I go back and say that I have seen you?"
"Tell them that I am well, and as happy as I ever expect to be."
She pressed her hand to her bosom where a letter was hidden.
"But what will people say when they know that my daughter is working on a farm for a living?"
"They need never know unless you tell them."
Then the man lost all control of himself; that this girl who had always yielded to his every wish, without so much as daring to have a thought of her own, should so calmly, but firmly, face him in this manner, enraged him beyond measure. He could not understand. He knew nothing of her life since that night he had refused to listen to her explanation, and in his anger taunted her with being the plaything of Dick Falkner, and then, because her face flushed, thought that he had hit on the truth and grew almost abusive in his language.
But Amy only answered, "Sir, you are mistaken now, as you were when you drove me from home; Mr. Falkner had nothing to do with my leaving Boyd City."
"You are my daughter still," stormed Adam, "and I will force you to leave this low position and come home to us. You cannot deceive me with your clever lie about supporting yourself. What do you know about a servant's work? That cursed tramp printer is at the bottom of all this, and I'll make him suffer for it as I live. I will force you to come home."