Support from some unexpected quarter!  Stott’s closing words rang in Shirley’s head.  Was that not just what she had to offer?  Unable to restrain herself longer and her heart beating tumultuously from suppressed emotion, she cried: 

“We’ll have that support!  We’ll have it!  I’ve got it already!  I wanted to surprise you!  Father, the most powerful man in the United States will save you from being dishonoured!”

The two men leaned forward in eager interest.  What could the girl mean?  Was she serious or merely jesting?

But Shirley was never more serious in her life.  She was jubilant at the thought that she had arrived home in time to invoke the aid of this powerful ally.  She repeated enthusiastically: 

“We need not worry any more.  He has but to say a word and these proceedings will be instantly dropped.  They would not dare act against his veto.  Did you hear, father, your case is as good as won!”

“What do you mean, child?  Who is this unknown friend?”

“Surely you can guess when I say the most powerful man in the United States?  None other than John Burkett Ryder!”

She stopped short to watch the effect which this name would have on her hearers.  But to her surprise neither her father nor Stott displayed the slightest emotion or even interest.  Puzzled at this cold reception, she repeated: 

“Did you hear, father—­John Burkett Ryder will come to your assistance.  I came home on the same ship as his son and he promised to secure his father’s aid.”

The judge puffed heavily at his pipe and merely shook his head, making no reply.  Stott explained: 

“We can’t look for help from that quarter, Shirley.  You don’t expect a man to cut loose his own kite, do you?”

“What do you mean?” demanded Shirley, mystified.

“Simply this—­that John Burkett Ryder is the very man who is responsible for all your father’s misfortunes.”

The girl sank back in her seat pale and motionless, as if she had received a blow.  Was it possible?  Could Jefferson’s father have done them such a wrong as this?  She well knew that Ryder, Sr., was a man who would stop at nothing to accomplish his purpose—­this she had demonstrated conclusively in her book—­but she had never dreamed that his hand would ever be directed against her own flesh and blood.  Decidedly some fatality was causing Jefferson and herself to drift further and further apart.  First, her father’s trouble.  That alone would naturally have separated them.  And now this discovery that Jefferson’s father had done hers this wrong.  All idea of marriage was henceforth out of the question.  That was irrevocable.  Of course, she could not hold Jefferson to blame for methods which he himself abhorred.  She would always think as much of him as ever, but whether her father emerged safely from the trial in the Senate or not—­no matter what the outcome of the impeachment proceedings might be, Jefferson could never be anything else than a Ryder and from now on there would be an impassable gulf between the Rossmores and the Ryders.  The dove does not mate with the hawk.