my friend see that message," he said, as he went out.

The moment the door had closed on him, Mrs. Presty startled her
daughter by taking up the card and looking at what Randal had
written on it. "It isn't a letter, Catherine; and you know how
superior I am to common prejudices." With that defense of her
proceeding, she coolly read the message:


"I am sorry to say that I can tell you nothing more of your old
friend's daughter as yet. I can only repeat that she neither
needs nor deserves the help that you kindly offer to her."


Mrs. Presty laid the card down again and owned that she wished
Randal had been a little more explicit. "Who can it be?" she
wondered. "Another young hussy gone wrong?"

Kitty turned to her mother with a look of alarm. "What's a
hussy?" she asked. "Does grandmamma mean me?" The great hotel
clock in the hall struck two, and the child's anxieties took a
new direction. "Isn't it time my little friends came to see me?"
she said.

It was half an hour past the time. Catherine proposed to send to
Lady Myrie and Mrs. Romsey, and inquire if anything had happened
to cause the delay. As she told Kitty to ring the bell, the
waiter came in with two letters, addressed to Mrs. Norman.

Mrs. Presty had her own ideas, and drew her own conclusions. She