As the car rolled up the avenue she felt a delicious sense of freedom.  She remarked upon the changing foliage and the unusual warmth of the day, the man at her side making only brief assents.

“That Dragon,” he finally broke out, “didn’t mean to let the Princess be seen to-day!”

Miss Sterling met his whimsical look with puzzled eyes.  Then, as the meaning dawned, “Oh!” she cried, a little blushing laugh keeping the word company.

“Do you always lock your door when you go away?”

“Never,” she answered,—­“then or at any time; we are not allowed to lock our rooms.”

“She told me you were out, and that your door would be locked; but I said I had a skeleton key in my pocket, and went on.”

“You quite outwitted her,” she laughed.  “I don’t understand why she should lie about it.”

“I have been there several times and inquired for you,” he resumed; “and was always told that you were not in.”

A flush of surprise pinked her face.  “I never heard anything of it,” she said regretfully.

“So Polly Dudley told me.  I saw her this morning.”

“Oh, did you!” she cried eagerly.

“She was in my office for an hour or two.  We have been blind as moles, the whole gang of us!” he added in a disgusted tone.  “We have trusted that woman with everything—­to your sorrow and ours!  I hope the officers will see it as I do, but—­I don’t know.  Miss Sterling,”—­he turned to her with a brighter tone in his voice,—­“do you remember when I used to come to your house to consult your father—­and you would entertain me while I was waiting for him?”

“Oh, yes!” she answered, “I remember perfectly; but I didn’t suppose you recollected—­it is so long ago.”

“I don’t forget easily.  You were a school-girl then, weren’t you?”

“I was just through the high school.”

“It was the winter before I was married,” he said reminiscently.  “It seems a lifetime since then.  Yet it is only some twenty or more years ago.  Your father was a very wise man, and I was pretty green in those days.  I remember I wanted to sue somebody that had cheated me in a small way, and your father advised me strongly against it.  I chafed a good deal at his decision; but I have thought of it a good many times since, how much better things turned out for me than if I had had my own way.  Too bad he had to go so young!  We need such men.  I wish we had a few like him on the Home Board.”  He turned toward his companion with a rueful smile.  “I am rather glad that happened down at the Home to-day.  It has given me a little personal experience with the Dragon that may be convenient to have.”  He smiled again at her, that kindly, whimsical little smile that so well became him.

She smiled, too, and then, when he had turned back, she frowned.  She wished he wouldn’t smile that way—­to her.  He should keep such smiles for his fiancee.