do not think there is any
chance that poor Charlie will be punished again. He is never really
naughty, but he has had a great shock."

"So have you, I imagine, to judge from your looks."

"Do I look shocked? And how have you been? It is so long since I was
able to go and see you."

"I have been, and am very well--very busy, and really succeeding. I have
opened a banking account, and feel very proud of my cheque-book. Do you
know that Mr. Newton has advanced me two hundred pounds? Just now it is
worth a thousand, it lifts me over the waiting time. I have sent in my
quarter's accounts, and in a month the payments will begin to come in.
I'll make a good business yet."

"I believe you will."

"What a pretty room!" said Rachel, looking round. "How nice it is to
know you are comfortable; by the time you are tired of your
secretaryship, I hope to have a nice little sum laid by for you."

"What a wonderful woman of business you are, Rachel," said Katherine,
admiringly.

"I ought to be! It is the only thing left to me, and I am thankful to
say I get more and more---" she stopped, for the door opened and Lord de
Burgh was announced.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

REPULSION.

Rachel started from her seat and stood facing the door. Her cheek
flushed crimson, then grew deadly white, her lips parted as if she
breathed with difficulty.

De Burgh, the moment his eyes fell on her, stopped as if suddenly
arrested by an invisible hand; his eyes expressed horror and surprise,
his dark face grew darker. Rachel quickly recovered. "I will call
again," she murmured, and passing him swiftly, noiselessly, left the
room, closing the door behind her.

Like a flash of lightning, the meaning of this scene darted through
Katherine's brain. Clasping her hands with interlaced fingers, she
pressed them against her breast.

"Ah!" she exclaimed (there was infinite pain in that "ah!") "then _you_
are the man?"

"What do you mean?" asked De Burgh, in a sullen tone, his thick brows
almost meeting in a frown.

"The man she loved and lived with," returned Katherine, the words were
low and clear.

"I am!" he replied, defiantly. Then a dreadful silence fell upon them.

Katherine dropped into a chair, and, resting her elbows on the table,
covered her face with her hands.

"My God!" exclaimed De Burgh, advancing a step nearer. "How does she
come here?"

Katherine could not speak for a moment; at last, and still covering her
eyes and with a