"Why not, father? You must, or I will, at once."
"Gloria, we can't tell the police anything. If they learned that you were engaged to Freneau, the house would be besieged by detectives and reporters. What evidence have you? Nothing but the imagination of a delirious girl. If you told them of your delirium, you would only stir up a scandal. It would have no value in court."
Gloria stared at him incredulously, but he went on vividly to convince her. "We should be laid open to enormous publicity at once. There would be headlines in all the papers about you every day. 'Gloria Stafford Involved in Freneau Mystery' ; 'Secret Engagement of Herr Secret Just Discovered' ; 'Gloria Stafford Claims She Saw Freneau Murdered' ; 'The Beautiful Daughter of Pierpont Stafford' ; "
She groaned. "Oh, don't, father; I can't bear it."
But Stafford continued inexorably. "You could never leave the house nor enter it without a dozen cameras being focused on you. The police would swarm the house, demand all your private correspondence with Freneau. If you refused them anything, they would use force and I should be powerless to help you. And what the police get, the reporters get. Do you want your love and your sorrow given over to the gossips? Now do you see why we cannot set the machine in motion? I have only one desire, to protect your reputation. 