. But withal, when I
remember my disappointment, my utter inability to help my dear
overtasked mother, round whom the net of difficulty, of debt, of
fruitless work, was drawing closer and closer, I again feel the
irresistible force of the temptation. You, who are wise and strong and
just, might have resisted; but"--with a slight graceful gesture of
humility--"you see what I am."

"If you had stopped to think!" Errington was beginning with unusual
severity, for he was irritated by the confusion in his own mind, which
was so different from his ordinary unhesitating decision between right
and wrong.

"But when you love any one very much--so entirely that you know every
change of the dear face, the meaning even of the drooping hand or the
bend of the weary head; when you know that a true brave heart is
breaking under a load of care--care for you, for your future, when it
will no longer be near to watch over and uphold you--and that no thought
or tenderness or personal exertion can lift that load, only the magic of
gold, why, you would do almost anything to get it. Would you not if you
loved like _this_?" concluded Katherine. She had spoken rapidly and with
fire.

"But I never have," returned Errington, startled.

"Then," said she, with some deliberation, "wisdom for you is from one
entrance quite shut out." She pressed her handkerchief to her eyes, and
was very still during a pause, which Errington hesitated to break.

"It is no doubt lost breath to excuse myself to a man of your character,
only do believe I was not meanly greedy! Now I have told you everything,
I readily resign into your hands what I ought never to have taken.
And--and you will spare my nephews wherewithal to educate them? Do what
I can, this is beyond my powers, but I trust to your generosity not to
let them be a burden on Colonel Ormonde. I leave the will with you." She
made a movement as if to put on her veil.

"Listen to me, Miss Liddell," said Errington, speaking very earnestly
and with an effort. "You are in a state of exaltation, of mental
excitement. The consciousness of the terrible mistake into which you
were tempted has thrown your judgment off its balance. I do not for an
instant doubt the sincerity of your proposition, but a little reflection
will show you I could not entertain it."

"Why not? I am quite willing to bear the blame, the shame, I deserve,
rather than see you parted from the woman who was so nearly your wife,
who would no