"I think, madam, perhaps we had better bring this interview to a close. It is a very painful subject, I do assure you."
"Very well, sir. I sh'ld think you'd want to. But mark my words. You'll be sorry for this some day, as I am now that Walter ever laid eyes on you or—your darter." With this parting shot she bounced out of the office, shutting the door with a vicious bang behind her.
But Mr. Bright's worries that day were not to be so easily set at rest. Upon reaching his home for a late dinner, looking pale and careworn, it was Dora who met him in the hallway, who put her arms round her father's neck, and who kissed him lovingly on both cheeks.
"Dear papa, I know all," she said with a little sob.
"Ah!" he ejaculated. "Then you have heard——"
"Yes, papa; our next-door neighbor, Mrs. Pryor, has told me all about it. Hateful old thing!"
The merchant made a gesture of resignation.
"She said you would have to discharge most of your clerks."
Mr. Bright made a gesture of assent.