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.