he knew or not. She
merely gave sway to the maternal instinct which is in the love of all
women. She felt his hands; she reached up and touched his face.

"Are you sure--are you sure you have not taken it?" she whispered.

He walked on, almost roughly.

"Oh, yes; quite," he said.

"I will not allow you to go into any more houses in Thors. I cannot--I
will not! Oh, Paul, you don't know. If you do, I will tell them all who
you are, and--and the Government will stop you."

"What would be the good of that?" said Paul awkwardly. "Your father
cared for his peasants, and was content to run risks for them. I suppose
you care about them, too, as you go into their houses."

"Yes; but--"

She paused, gave a strange little reckless laugh, and was silent. Heaven
forbid that we should say that she wanted him to know that she loved
him. Chivalry bids us believe that women guard the secret of their love
inviolate from the world. But what was Catrina to do? Men are in the
habit of forgetting that plain women are women at all. Surely some of
them may be excused for reminding us at times that they also are capable
of loving--that they also desire to be loved. Happy is the man who loves
and is loved of a plain woman; for she will take her own lack of beauty
into consideration, and give him more than most beautiful women have it
in their power to give.

"Of course," Catrina went on, with a sudden anger which surprised
herself, "I cannot stop you from doing this at Osterno, though I think
it is wicked; but I can prevent you from doing it here, and I certainly
shall!"

Paul shrugged his shoulders.

"As you like," he said. "I thought you cared more about the peasants."

"I do not care a jot about the peasants," she answered passionately, "as
compared--It is you I am thinking about, not them. I think you are
selfish, and cruel to your friends."

"My friends have never shown that they are consumed with anxiety on my
account."

"That is mere prevarication. Leave that to Herr Steinmetz and such men,
whose business it is; you don't do it well. Your friends may feel a lot
that they do not show."

She spoke the words shortly and sharply. Surreptitious good is so rare,
that when it is found out it very naturally gets mixed up with secret
evil, and the perpetrator of the hidden good deed feels guilty of a
crime. Paul was in this lamentable position, which he proceeded to
further aggravate by seeking to excuse himself.

"I did it af