uptly and looked
at her from head to foot, with a comprehensive glance so full of the
admiration he did not venture to speak that Katherine felt the color
mount to her brow and even spread over her white throat, while an odd
sense of uneasy distress fluttered her pulses. She only said,
indifferently: "I might not prove a good partner. I have never danced
much."

"I might give you a lesson in that too, as well as in handling the
ribbons. And for that there will be a grand opportunity next week. Lord
De Burgh is coming up, and I shall have the run of his stables, which I
will take good care shall be well filled. We'll have out a smart pair of
cobs, and you shall take them round the Park every morning, till you are
fit to give all the other women whips the go-by."

"Do you seriously believe such a scheme possible?"

"It shall be if you say yes. Do you know that you have brought me luck?
You have, 'pon my soul! I am A-1 with old De Burgh, and I won a pot of
money up in Yorkshire, paid a lot of debts, sold my horses. Now, don't
you think you ought to be interested in your man Friday? You remember
our last meeting at Sandbourne--hey? Don't you think I am going to
succeed all along the line?"

"It is impossible to say," returned Katherine. "You know there is a
French proverb--" She stopped, not liking to repeat it as she suddenly
remembered the application.

"Yes, I do know the lying Gallic invention! _Heureux au jeu, malheureux
en amour_. I don't believe it. If luck's with you, all goes well; but
then Fortune is such a fickle jade!"

"I trust you will always be fortunate, Mr. De Burgh," said Katherine,
gently.

"I like to hear you say so. Now I don't often let my tongue run on as it
has, but if you'll be patient and friendly, I'll be as mild and
inoffensive as a youngster fresh from school."

"Very well," said Katherine, smiling and confused. Here she was
interrupted by the sudden approach of Mrs. Needham, her dark eyes
gleaming with pleased recognition, and her high color heightened by the
heat of the rooms. She was gorgeous in red satin, black lace and
diamonds. "My dear Miss Liddell! I have been looking for you everywhere!
I want so much to speak to you about a project I have for starting a new
weekly paper, to be called _The Woman's Weekly_. There is an empty sofa
in that little room at the other side of the hall. Do come, and I will
explain it all. It is likely to do a great deal of good, and to be a
paying co