y her humble guise and poor exterior; the little dress of
colored wool, from the pockets of which her carving-tools appeared; and
then how the scene rose before her! her father producing Nelly's last
work, some little group in clay or wood. She pictured to herself his
pride, her sister's bashfulness, the stranger's pretended admiration!
Till now, these emotions had never seen a counterfeit. Oh, how she
shuddered as her thoughts took more and more the colors of reality, and
the room itself, and its poverty-struck furniture, rose before her! At
last she read on:

"His visit was of course a great honor, and probably, had he come on any
other errand but to speak of you, we should have been half overwhelmed
with the condescension; but in very truth, Kate, I quite forgot all
his greatness and his grandeur, and lost sight of his ever holding any
higher mission than to bring news of my dearest sister. Papa, of course,
asked him to dinner. I believe he would have invited the Czar himself
under like circumstances; but, fortunately for us, for him, and perhaps
for you too, he was too deaf to hear the request, and politely answered
that he would send my letter to you with pleasure, under his own
diplomatic seal; and so we parted. I ought to add that Mr. Foglass
intends speedily to return to Florence."

Three or four times did Kate read this name over before she could
persuade herself that she had it aright. Foglass! she had never even
heard of him. The name was remarkable enough to remember, as belonging
to a person of diplomatic rank, and yet it was quite new to her. She
turned to Lady Hester's invitation book, but no such name was there.
What form her doubts might have taken there is no knowing, when Mr.
Albert Jekyl was seen to cross the courtyard, and enter the house.

Knowing that if any could, he would be the person to resolve the
difficulty, she hastened downstairs to meet him.

"Mr. Jekyl," cried she, hurriedly, "is there such a man as Mr. Foglass
in this breathing world of ours?"

"Of course there is, Miss Dalton," said he, smiling at her eagerness.

"A minister or an envoy at some court?"

"Not that I have ever heard," repeated he, with a more dubious smile.

"Well, a secretary of embassy, perhaps? something of that kind? Who is
he? what is he? where does he belong to?"

"You mean Bob, Miss Dalton," said he, at once puffing out his cheeks
and running his hand through his hair, till it became a very good
resembla