"Oh, tell me quickly!" said the mother, with instant premonition, dropping down on the edge of the couch where the caller had seated herself. "Tell me all, please. I have been utterly at a loss to understand Daisy's unstrung state of mind."
Mary Dunlap wondered wildly where she should begin and then plunged into her subject.
"First, may I ask, please, about this Mr. Keller whom I met that night with your daughter? Of course I knew nothing of him whatever. Is he a personal acquaintance of yours? A—friend?"
There was an instant flash of indignation in the mother's eyes.
"Certainly not!" she replied with almost haughtiness in her voice. "I have met him but once and I have never liked anything that I have heard about him. He is a sort of a traveling agent I believe for some New York firm, and business seems to call him to this particular town more frequently than I could wish. My daughter thinks that I am prejudiced against him because of certain stories we have heard about him, which she thinks have no foundation except in malicious gossip. But frankly, he is a source of much anxiety to me.
"For the past few months he has been quite attentive to Daisy, that is, as attentive as circumstances would allow, and I—do not trust him. I do not know why. But I don't! I am utterly at a loss to account for the influence he seems to have acquired over her in the few brief meetings they have had. She thinks me hard and cruel because I well, I can scarcely bear the sound of his name! And yet I have to confess that I have no good reason to offer for such a feeling. It appears that he really asked her to marry him. The idea is so obnoxious to me that I can scarcely bear to utter the words!"
"And this trip they were taking together," ventured the troubled questioner; "you knew about it of course?"
"Trip!" exclaimed the mother indignantly. "They were not traveling together! Why, I sent her away on this visit to get her out of his vicinity because I heard that he was intending to remain in this town several weeks! They simply met on the train. Daisy thinks it was a coincidence I suppose from what she says, but of course, he followed her. I am positive of that. To put it plainly, he seems to be infatuated with her. And she, poor child, has admitted to me this very afternoon that she loves him with all her heart! Oh, it seems so terrible for me to be telling this to you, a stranger, burdening you with my anxiety."
Mrs. Sheldon wiped the tears away from her eyes, and struggled to keep more from falling. "But you have been so kind to me and to Daisy, and there has been no one to whom I could go for advice."
Mary Dunlap slipped an arm around the shoulders of the mother with strong reassurance.