ect
Hugo of an intention to commit actual, flagrant crime. Yet some
undefined terror of him had made her beg Vivian to tell Brian and his
wife to come home as soon as possible. She did not know what might
happen. She was afraid; and at any rate she wanted to secure her husband
against temptation. He might thank her for it afterwards, perhaps,
though Kitty did not think that he ever would.

She went upstairs after dinner to sit with Mrs. Luttrell, as she usually
did at that hour. The poor woman was perceptibly better. The look of
recognition in her eyes was not so painfully beseeching as it had been
hitherto; the hand which Kitty took in hers gently returned her
pressure. She muttered the only word that her lips seemed able to
speak:--"Brian! Brian!"

"He is coming," said Kitty, bending her head so that her lips almost
touched the withered cheek. "He is coming--coming soon."

A wonderful light of satisfaction stole into the melancholy eyes. Again
she pressed Kitty's hand. She was content.

The nurse generally returned to Mrs. Luttrell's room after her supper;
and Kitty waited for some time, wondering why she was so long in coming.
She rang the bell at last and enquired for her. The maid replied that
Mrs. Samson, the nurse, had been taken ill and had gone to bed. Kitty
then asked for the housekeeper, and the maid went away to summon her.

Again Kitty waited; but no housekeeper came.

She was about to ring the bell a second time, when her husband entered
the room. "What do you want with the housekeeper at this time of night?"
he asked, carelessly.

Kitty explained. Hugo raised his eyebrows. "Oh, is that all?" he said.
"Really, Kitty, you make too much fuss about my aunt. She will do well
enough. I won't have poor old Shairp called up from her bed to sit here
till morning."

"But somebody must stay," said Kitty, whom her husband had drawn into
the little dressing-room. "Mrs. Luttrell must not be left alone."

"She shall not be left alone, my dear; I'll take care of that. I have
seen Samson, hearing that she was ill, and find that it is only a fit of
sickness, which is passing off. She will be here in half-an-hour; or, if
not, Shairp can be called."

"Then I will stay here until one of them comes," said Kitty.

"You will do nothing of the kind. You will go to bed at once. It is ten
o'clock, and I don't want you to spoil that charming complexion of yours
by late hours." He spoke with a sort of sneer, but immediat