“And I promised your father’s spirit the day you came to us here that I’d guard you as my own—you and little Marya. I haven’t done my duty. I’ve been too busy with big things to realize that I was neglecting the biggest thing in the world. You’ve slipped away from me, dear—and I’m heartsick over it. Maybe I’ll be in time for Marya—you’re lost at eighteen—”
“Marya’s joined our Club too—”
“A babe of twelve?”
“She’s going to be Miss Holland’s page in the suffrage Pageant—”
John Vassar groaned, laid both hands on the girl’s shoulders and rose abruptly.
“Now, Zonia, it’s got to stop here and now. I’m not going to allow this brazen Amazon—”
His niece broke into a fit of laughter.
“Brazen Amazon?”
“That’s what I said. This brazen Amazon is my enemy—”
The girl lifted her finger laughingly.