"Miss Wilson," he replied, unruffled, "if you insist on Smilash, you
shall have Smilash; I take an insane pleasure in personating him. If you
want Sidney--my real Christian name--you can command him. But allow me
to say that you must have either one or the other. If you become frank
with me, I will understand that you are addressing Sidney. If distant
and severe, Smilash."

"No matter what your name may be," said Miss Wilson, much annoyed, "I
forbid you to come here or to hold any communication whatever with the
young ladies in my charge."

"Why?"

"Because I choose."

"There is much force in that reason, Miss Wilson; but it is not moral
force in the sense conveyed by your college prospectus, which I have
read with great interest."

Miss Wilson, since her quarrel with Agatha, had been sore on the
subject of moral force. "No one is admitted here," she said, "without
a trustworthy introduction or recommendation. A disguise is not a
satisfactory substitute for either."

"Disguises are generally assumed for the purpose of concealing crime,"
he remarked sententiously.

"Precisely so," she said emphatically.