She loved them so much!"

Katherine paused suddenly, but almost immediately resumed: "The
youngest, Charlie, is not yet seven, and is very delicate. He has had
rather a sharp attack of bronchitis. I am very anxious about him. How I
want to take them to the sea-side next month, and to keep them there all
the summer, and I want your help to find a nice place. I know nothing of
the English coast. More than this: I feel I could not get on without
you, so you must come with us. Suppose, dear Miss Payne, we take a house
with a garden near the sea, and you let this one? I will gladly pay all
extra cost, while our original agreement, as far as I myself am
concerned, shall hold good."

Miss Payne listened attentively to this long speech, the expression of
her countenance relaxing; but she did not reply at once.

"I think," she said, after a moment's thought, "that you are exceedingly
liberal, but I am not sure you are wise. As far as I am concerned, I
should like your plan very much. I do not profess to be fond of
children, but I dare say these little boys would not interfere with me.
As regards yourself, if you keep the children for the whole summer, it
is possible Mrs. Ormonde might be inclined to leave them with you
altogether, and this would create a burden for you--a burden you are by
no means called upon to bear. It is a dangerous experiment."

"Not to me," returned Katherine, thoughtfully. "In fact it is a
consummation for which I devoutly wish. I should like to adopt my
nephews."

"That would certainly be foolish. It would not be kind to the children,
Katherine (as you wish me to call you). In the course of a year or two
you will marry, and then the creatures who had learned to love you and
look on you as a mother would be again motherless. Do not take them from
their natural guardian."

"What you say is very reasonable. You cannot know how certain I feel
that I shall _not_ marry. However, let us leave all that to arrange
itself in the future; let us think of the present. Colonel and Mrs.
Ormonde are coming up to town, for two or three months, in May, and I do
not like the idea of Cis and Charlie being left behind; so will you help
me, my dear Miss Payne? Shall you mind a spring and summer in some quiet
sea-side place?"

Again Miss Payne reflected before she spoke. "I should rather like it:
and your idea of letting this house is a good one. Yes, I shall be happy
to assist you as far as I can. The first question