"I wouldn't worry, Miss Gloria," said the secretary fondly. "They've likely been delayed in traffic. There! There's the elevator! Maybe they're coming now. Yes, I think that's Mr. Oliver's step."
"Oh, it is, it is! The day is saved," cried Gloria tragically.
The door opened and another very pretty girl scarcely older than the first entered, and behind her a gentleman.
"There! Daddy! You're late yourself. I've won the bet and you've got to pay up! A five-pound box of chocolates! Remember! You promised! And a new pair of slippers for the party! Muth and I've been here a long time—and I had a flat tire, too, and a lot of trouble."
The gentleman stepped in and closed the door, gave a quick glance at the legs and the newspaper in the alcove, another toward the window where huddled the two women, and then faced toward the desk where for the instant his two daughters had so grouped themselves as to completely hide the white-faced girl from his vision.
Gloria boomed forth again:
"Now, Daddy, you've simply got to come into the office and show it to her at once. I can't wait another second. I'm dying to see what she thinks of it. Come on in now before Miss Flinch gets you into a lot of tiresome checks and letters you have to sign. Come on, Daddy it won't take long, and then Muth can enjoy it while she waits."
Gloria caught his hands and pulled him toward the door of the inner office, and Katharine moved to follow, when suddenly the man saw the white-faced girl. She had risen from her seat, and exclaimed eagerly, pleadingly, as if somehow the sight of her eyes, the hearing of her ears had deceived her, and this was some horrible dream which would presently be explained:
"Rufus! Oh Rufus—I've come—!"
The man turned ashen color, and looked as if he were going to drop. He stopped where he stood, apparently unable to move further, feebly drawing his hands away from the eager girls who kept trying to draw him on.