carriage, and uttering
a brief good-night, stepped back to make way for Captain Darrell, who
expressed his pleasure at having met Mrs. Ormonde, and begged to be
allowed to call next day.

On the whole, Katherine felt comforted by the assurance of Errington's
friendly feeling toward her. How cruel it was to be obliged thus to
reject his kindly advances! But it was wiser. If she met him often, what
would become of her determination to steel her heart against the
extraordinary feeling he had awakened? Besides, it could only be the
wonderful patient benevolence of his nature which made him take any
notice of her. In his own mind contempt could be the only feeling she
awakened. No; the less she saw of him, the better for her.

By the time De Burgh called to escort Katherine and Mrs. Ormonde (who
had dined with her) to the theatre he had conquered the extreme, though
unreasonable, annoyance which had seized him on finding Errington and
Katherine in apparently confidential conversation. He exerted himself
therefore to be an agreeable host with success.

A play was the amusement of all others which delighted Katherine and
drew her out of herself. De Burgh was diverted and Mrs. Ormonde half
ashamed of the profound interest, the entire attention, with which she
listened to the dialogue and awaited the _denouement_.

"I should have thought you had seen too much good acting abroad to be so
delighted with this," said Mrs. Ormonde.

"But this is excellent, and the style is so new I have to thank you, Mr.
De Burgh, for a delightful evening."

"The same to you," he returned. "Seeing you enjoy it so much woke me up
to the merits of the thing."

The supper was bright and lively. Three men besides himself, and a
cousin, a pretty, chatty woman of the world, completed De Burgh's party.
There was plenty of laughing and chaffing. Katherine felt seized by a
feverish desire to shake off dull care, to forget the past, to be as
other women were. There was no reason why she should not. So she laughed
and talked with unusual animation, and treated her host with kindly
courtesy, that set his deep eyes aglow with hope and pleasure.

"It is a great advantage to be rich," said Mrs. Ormonde, reflectively,
as she leaned comfortably in the corner of the carriage which conveyed
her and her sister-in-law home. She was always a little nettled when she
found how completely Katherine had effaced herself from De Burgh's
fickle mind. She had been high