"Where is the boy?"
Mrs. Randolph rang the bell.
"It is no use, mamma; he has gone off with Preston somewhere."
"That is a mere subterfuge, Daisy, to gain time."
Daisy certainly looked troubled enough, and timid also; though her meek look at her mother did not plead guilty to this accusation.
"Speak, Daisy; the telling whatever there is to tell must come upon you," her father said. "Your business is to explain the charge Ransom has brought against you."
All Daisy's meditations had not brought her to the point of knowing what to say in this conjuncture. She hesitated.
"Speak, Daisy!" her father said peremptorily.
"Papa, they had put me—Eloïse and Theresa Stanfield—they had put me to watch the things."
"What things?"