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 cheerful and chewing, was driving, and Miss Platt was observantly erect beside Ethel's suit case. Sam stopped the horses, and as Miss Platt prepared to get down, Barney asked Ethel:

"What do you want me to tell her?"

"I'll be with her in a minute; let her drive on a little and wait."

When he went out, Ethel wondered if she would have succeeded in making Miss Platt obey these directions; Barney did succeed, quickly and without evident difficulty.

"She asked me to inform you that she had carefully packed all your clothing and other articles," Barney reported, smiling slightly when he returned. "Since you have defied his authority, your grandfather does not require you to return to his house; but as he is responsible for you while here, Mrs. Kincheloe will see you safely aboard the train."

"He doesn't want me to see him again," Ethel said, "or Kincheloe. About my people," she reverted, "they've never been my people—except grandmother. The rest of them—grandfather and my uncles—only pretended to be mine when my father was alive. I've told you my father never had anything to do with them, and you heard grandmother say that my mother broke with grandfather."

"Yes."

"I was thinking a good deal about my mother and my father last night, Mr. Loutrelle. It seems—it seems," she repeated, "that last November, and then a few weeks later, my father tried to send you some message. Why was that, do you suppose? I mean, why didn't he try to send it to me?"

"Were you trying to get a message from him?"