essed in these terms:

"Mr. Van Brandt presents his compliments to Mr. Germaine, and begs
to apologize for the somewhat abrupt manner in which he received Mr.
Germaine's polite advances. Mr. Van Brandt suffers habitually from
nervous irritability, and he felt particularly ill last night. He trusts
Mr. Germaine will receive this candid explanation in the spirit in which
it is offered; and he begs to add that Mrs. Van Brandt will be delighted
to receive Mr. Germaine whenever he may find it convenient to favor her
with a visit."

That Mr. Van Brandt had some sordid interest of his own to serve in
writing this grotesquely impudent composition, and that the unhappy
woman who bore his name was heartily ashamed of the proceeding on which
he had ventured, were conclusions easily drawn after reading the two
letters. The suspicion of the man and of his motives which I naturally
felt produced no hesitation in my mind as to the course which I had
determined to pursue. On the contrary, I rejoiced that my way to
an interview with Mrs. Van Brandt was smoothed, no matter with what
motives, by Mr. Van Brandt himself.

I waited at home until noon, and then I could wait no longer. Leaving a
message of excuse for my mother (I had just sense of shame enough left
to shrink from facing her), I hastened away to profit by my invitation
on the very day when I received it.

CHAPTER XIV. MRS. VAN BRANDT AT HOME.

As I lifted my hand to ring the house bell, the door was opened from
within, and no less a person than Mr. Van Brandt himself stood before
me. He had his hat on. We had evidently met just as he was going out.

"My dear sir, how good this is of you! You present the best of all
replies to my letter in presenting yourself. Mrs. Van Brandt is at home.
Mrs. Van Brandt will be delighted. Pray walk in."

He threw open the door of a room on the ground-floor. His politeness was
(if possible) even more offensive than his insolence. "Be seated, Mr.
Germaine, I beg of you." He turned to the open door, and called up the
stairs, in a loud and confident voice:

"Mary! come down directly."

"Mary"! I knew her Christian name at last, and knew it through Van
Brandt. No words can tell how the name jarred on me, spoken by his lips.
For the first time for years past my mind went back to Mary Dermody
and Greenwater Broad. The next moment I heard the rustling of Mrs. Van
Brandt's dress on the stairs. As the sound caught my ear, the old times
and the