She was suddenly aroused from her reverie by the sound of an auto upon the road.  It drew up and stopped right in front of the gate.  A man at once alighted and walked rapidly toward the house.  Mrs. Hampton rose and met him just as he stepped upon the verandah.  The visitor was a middle-aged man, of overbearing manner.  He had not the courtesy to remove his hat in the presence of the woman, nor to take the big cigar he was smoking from his mouth.  In an instant the thought flashed into Mrs. Hampton’s mind that this was the man who had come to take away her daughter.  She had been dreading his appearance, and now he was before her.

“I am Henry Randall,” the man announced, “and I am looking for my daughter.  Is she here?”

“Your daughter!” Mrs. Hampton replied.  “Why are you searching for her here?  Did she not drown herself?”

A heartless laugh broke from the man’s lips, as he took the cigar from his mouth, and flicked off the ashes.  He looked piercingly at the woman as if expecting to see her quail.  But Mrs. Hampton’s eyes never flinched for an instant.  She was angry at the man’s manner of approach, and when a quiet woman is aroused there is need for caution.

“Why don’t you answer my question?” the man asked.  “I want to know if my daughter is here?  She didn’t drown herself, though she deserves to be drowned for the way she has acted.”

“No, your daughter is not here,” Mrs. Hampton quietly replied.

“Not here!” Randall plainly showed his surprise.  “Why, I was told that she came to your house.”

“Then you were wrongly informed.  Your daughter has never been inside my house.”

“And you have not seen her?”

“No, I have never met her.  You will have to search elsewhere.”

“That is strange, madame, very strange.  Didn’t your son bring a girl here who was injured at the stone quarry?”

“That is quite true, sir.  My daughter received a slight injury at the quarry, and it was she my son brought home.”

The man frowned and bit savagely at his cigar.

“Confound it all!” he growled.  “What am I to do?”

“Why not go to the quarry,” Mrs. Hampton suggested.  “You may learn something there.”

“That is the only thing I can do, I suppose,” and the man sighed.  “But, by the way, where is your son now?  And your daughter, too, for that matter?”

“They went down the road but a short time ago.  Didn’t you meet them?  They were in a car.”

“We met several cars, but I didn’t see anything of your son.  I know him quite well, for let me tell you, madame, he and my daughter are very fond of each other.  I believe that he is the cause of all this trouble.”

“I am surprised to hear you say such a thing, sir.  Are you sure that my son lured your daughter away from home?”

“I am certain of it, and what is more, I intend to push this matter to the extreme limit of the law.  I must see your son.  When do you expect him back?”