ssenger, and the answer will
be back before dark. If she is to go, she can start with the first
light of tomorrow morning, and we can get her mails packed ready
tonight; for she must not disgrace her state, but must be furnished
with all things fitting to her condition."

Sir Richard thought that no other plan better than this could be
devised for his erring daughter; and though he could not but feel
some compassion for the girl, condemned to be the companion of a
pair of aged and feeble gentlewomen such as his aunts had long
been, was nevertheless of opinion that the captivity and dullness
would be salutary, and despatched his letter without delay.

That same night Kate, who had passed the long hours in weeping and
rejoicing, and in all those conflicting phases of feeling common to
the young, heard with a mixture of' pleasure and dismay that she
was to be sent in disgrace to the keeping of her great aunts, and
that without delay; also that she was not even to say goodbye to
her sisters, or to see them again until something had been decided
as to her future and the validity of her wilful espousals. She was
made to feel that she had committed a terrible sin, and one that
her parents would find it hard to forgive; yet she could not help
exulting slightly in the thought that they had been obliged to take
the matter so seriously; and she had a dim hope that her aged
relatives, when she did come to them, might not prove altogether so
crabbed and cross as she had always been led to suppose. Perhaps
she might find a warm corner even in their old hearts.

Chapter 19: The Cross Way House.

With the first light of day the start was to be made. Kate, who had
slept little, was ready betimes, had dressed herself in her riding
suit long before she was sent for, and was employing herself in
wondering if she would after all be permitted to say farewell to
her sisters, and whether she should have an opportunity of asking
her mother's pardon for her wrongdoing in this matter of her secret
espousals.

The girl had suffered a good deal during these past months. She had
not realized when yielding to Culverhouse's persuasions how hard it
would be to live beneath her parents' roof with this secret preying
on her mind. She had not realized what a weight it would become in
time, and she had looked for a speedy meeting with her cousin and
betrothed in London, whither Sir Richard had intended taking his
family for a while before the