CHAPTER IX
I
A DREADFUL thing happened. Allie Peyton died suddenly of heart failure. The catastrophe occurred early in the evening; but Kenneth did not hear of it until he started out the following morning. His father was away on a business trip to Los Angeles, so he rode down at once to the ranch.
Daphne opened the door to his ring. Her eyes were red and tired, but they widened in amazement and anger when she saw him. At once she stepped outside and closed the door cautiously behind her.
"You! you!" she whispered intensely. "How dare you come to this house! Are you lost to all shame, all sense of decency? Have you no feeling for that old man's grief that you should show your face here to-day? Your father, at least, had a sense of shame. Go! go at once before you are seen!"
Kenneth stared at her, his jaw dropped in amazement, his spirit struck to confusion by this fierce and unexpected onslaught. He was unable to gather his faculties. Seeing that he made no move, Daphne, still in a white heat of anger, seized his arm as though to bustle him from the veranda. At the physical touch his mind snapped into focus.
"See here," he whispered, with equal ferocity. "I don't know what's the matter with you, but I'll tell you I'm about sick of this. You've treated me like a dog lately, for no reason at all. I've come down here this morning to tell the Colonel how sorry I am this has happened and to see if there is anything I can do, and you spring out at me! I won't have it, I tell you. I was as fond of Aunt Allie"
"Don'tyou dare call her that!" cried Daphne.
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