"Your daughter showed it to me--in an album!" The Colonel sat like a man turned to stone.

The hand which held his cigar shook so that the ash fell upon his waistcoat.
"Go on!" he faltered.
"I asked who it was.

I was told that it was your daughter! Miss Edith's step-sister! Forgive me, Colonel! I had to tell you!" The Colonel seemed to have shrunk in his place.

The cigar slipped from his fingers and fell unheeded on to the grass.

His mouth trembled and twitched pitifully.
"My--my daughter Louise!" he faltered.