Ah, he's a problem!" Shirley started involuntarily when Ryder mentioned his son.

But he did not notice it.
"Why, is he wild ?" she asked, as if only mildly interested.
"Oh, no, I wish he were," said Ryder.
"Fallen in love with the wrong woman, I suppose," she said.
"Something of the sort--how did you guess ?" asked Ryder surprised.
Shirley coughed to hide her embarrassment and replied indifferently.
"So many boys do that.

Besides," she added with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes, "I can hardly imagine that any woman would be the right one unless you selected her yourself!" Ryder made no answer.

He folded his arms and gazed at her.

Who was this woman who knew him so well, who could read his inmost thoughts, who never made a mistake?
After a silence he said: "Do you know you say the strangest things ?" "Truth is strange," replied Shirley carelessly.