Royals slept, and as she kissed his velvet cheek and looked pityingly
from babe to mother, the last remains of anger died out of her heart.
Lady Helena Powyss would "take Lady Catheron up."

"She's pretty, and gentle, and good, and a lady if ever I saw one,"
she said to Inez Catheron; "and she doesn't look too happy. Don't be
too hard on her, my dear--it isn't her fault. Victor is to blame. No
one feels that more than I. But not that blue-eyed child--try to
forgive her Inez, my love. A little kindness will go a long way there."

Inez Catheron sitting in the sunlit window of her own luxurious room,
turned her face from the rosy sunset sky full upon her aunt.

"I know what I owe my cousin Victor and his wife," she answered
steadily, "and one day I shall pay my debt."

The large, lustrous Spanish eyes turned once more to the crimson light
in the western sky. Some of that lurid splendor lit her dark,
colorless face with a vivid glow. Lady Helena looked at her
uneasily--there was a depth here she could not fathom. Was Inez
"taking it quietly" after all?

"I--I don't ask you to forgive _him_, my dear," she said,
nervously--"at least, just yet. I don't think I could do it myself.
And of course you can't be expected to feel very kindly to her who has
usurped your place. But I would let her alone if I were you. Victor is
master here, and his wife must be mistress, and naturally he doesn't
like it. You might go too far, and then--"

"He might turn me out of Catheron Royals--is that what you are trying