ed to forego his claims upon me for the income
I have expended, and I can find some means of maintaining myself, I
could still provide for their school expenses and keep them with me."

"Maintain yourself, my dear Katherine; it is easier said than done. You
are quite infatuated about those nephews of yours, and I dare say they
will give you small thanks."

"I know it is not easy for an untrained woman like myself to find
remunerative work, but I shall try. Here is a note from Mr. Newton
asking me to call on him to-morrow. Let us hope he will have some good
news, though I cannot help fearing he would have told me in this if he
had."

It was with a sickening sensation of uneasy hope shot with dark streaks
of fear that Katherine started to keep her appointment with Mr. Newton.
Eager to begin her economy at once, Katherine took an omnibus instead of
indulging in a brougham or a cab. She could not help smiling at her own
sense of helpless discomfort when a fat woman almost sat down upon her,
and the conductor told her to look sharp when the vehicle stopped to let
her alight; as she reflected that barely three years ago she considered
an omnibus rather a luxury, and that it was a matter of careful
calculation how many pennies might be saved by walking to certain points
whence one could travel at a reduced fare. How easily are luxurious and
self-indulgent habits formed! Well, she had done with them forever now;
nor would anything seem a hardship were she but permitted to repair in
some measure the evil she had wrought.

She found Mr. Newton awaiting her with evident impatience. "Well, my
dear Miss Liddell," he said, "I have been most anxious to see you,
though I have not much that is cheering to communicate. I have had
several interviews with your cousin, but he seems still unaccountably
hard and vindictive. However, as I am, of course, _your_ adviser, he has
been obliged to seek another solicitor, and I am happy to say he has
fallen into good hands, and that by a sort of lucky chance."

"How?" asked Katherine, who was looking pale and feeling in the depths.

"Well, a few days ago a gentleman called here to ask me for the address
of a former client of whom I have heard nothing for years. I think you
know or have met this gentleman--Mr. Errington."

"I do," cried Katherine, now all attention.

"While we were speaking Mr. Liddell was announced. Errington looked at
him hard, and then asked politely if he were the son of t