He was an oldish man with the lines of failure in his face and on his lean form the sprightly clothing of youth.

He had been a reporter,--was still, he maintained.

But Lorraine suspected shrewdly that he scarcely made a living for himself, and that he was home-hunting in more ways than one when he came to visit her mother.
The affair had progressed appreciably in her absence, it would appear.
He greeted her with, a fatherly "Hello, kiddie," and would have kissed her had Lorraine not evaded him skilfully.
Her mother came in then and complained intimately to the man, and declared that the dressmaker would have to pay that bill or have her gas turned off.

He offered sympathy, assistance in the turning off of the gas, and a kiss which was perfectly audible to Lorraine in the next room.

The affair had indeed progressed! "L'raine, d'you know you've got a new papa ?" her mother called out in the peculiar, chirpy tone she used when she was exuberantly happy.