“Then let me at least take you a little nearer where you want to go,” pleaded Richard.

“No, no! Set me down right here.”

“Tell me where you live.”

“I dare not.”

“I must see my old friend Arthur! And why shouldn’t I see his sister? My father and mother aren’t tyrants. They let me go where I please, or else they give me a good reason why I shouldn’t.”

“Oh, they’ll do that!” returned Alice. “Let me out, Richard, please, or I shall hate you.”

Even as she said it she dropped her head on his shoulder and sobbed. He tried to soothe her, but he saw that nothing would change her mind.

“Must I leave you, then, on this very spot?” he asked.

“Yes, yes! Right here!” she answered, and rose still eager to get away from him.

He stopped the cab, got out, and turned to her, but she did not accept his offered help.

“Won’t you shake my hand at least?” he said. “I didn’t mean to offend you.”

She answered nothing, but hurried away a step or two, then turned and lifted her arms as if to embrace him, but turned again instantly and fled away among the shadows of the wildly flickering lamps. By the time he had paid the cabman, he saw it would be useless to follow, for she was out of sight.

The wide street was almost deserted. He turned toward home with a sense of loss and great sadness at his heart, unable even to speculate as to the cause of Alice’s strange behaviour. All he knew was that his mother had something to do with it. For the first time since childhood, he felt angry with his mother.

“She probably thinks I am in love with the girl,” he said to himself, “and thinks she is not good enough for me! I’m not in love with her, but any girl I cared for I should count good enough! What can she have said to her to make her so miserable?”

He was determined to have some explanation from his mother when he arrived home. But the moment she saw where his questioning was leading she turned away, listened in silence, and then spoke with a decision that sounded as if it had anger mingled with it.

“They’re not people your father and I would have you know,” she said without looking at him.

“Why not, mother?” asked Richard.

“We’re not bound to explain everything to you, Richard. It ought to be enough that we have a good reason.”

“If it is a good one, why shouldn’t I know it?” he persisted. “Good things don’t need to be hidden.”

“That’s true, they do not.”

“Then why hide this one?”

“Because it is not good.”

“You said it was a good reason!”

“So it is.”

“Good and not good! How can that be?” said Richard, not seeing that the worst of facts may be the best of reasons.

His mother held her peace, knowing she was right, but not knowing how to answer him.