What stunned him was that Tom had already taken sides with the girl. He had not said so in words. But his embarrassment and uneasiness could mean but one thing. He must move with caution, yet he must act at once and end the dangerous situation. A clandestine love affair was a hideous possibility. Up to a moment ago he had held such a thing out of the question with the boy's high-strung sense of honor and his lack of experience with girls.
He was afraid now of both the boy and girl. She had convinced him of her purity when the first words had fallen from her lips. Yet wiser men had been deceived before. The thought of her sleek, tawny mother came with a shudder. No daughter could escape such an inheritance.
There was but one thing to do and it must be done quickly. He would send Helen abroad and if necessary tell her the whole hideous truth.
He lifted his head at the sound of Cleo's footsteps, rose and confronted her. As his deep-set eyes surveyed her he realized that the hour had come for a fight to the finish.
She gazed at him steadily with a look of undisguised hate:
"What is it?"
He took a step closer, planted his long legs apart and met her greenish eyes with an answering flash of rage:
"When I think of your damned impudence, using my typewriter and letterheads to send an invitation to that girl to spend the summer here with Tom at home, and signing my name——"
"I have the right to use your name with her," she broke in with a sneer.
"It will be the last time I'll give you the chance."