escue her.

"Did you leave home without a carriage, or even a servant?" asked he
again, as no answer was returned to his former question.

"I did take a carriage in the morning; and and--"

"Sent it away again," continued George, impetuously. "And where did you
drive to, where pass the day?"

Kate hung her head in silence, while her heart felt as if it would burst
from very agony.

"This is no idle curiosity of mine, Miss Dalton," said he, speaking with
a slow and measured utterance. "The society you have mixed with here is
not above any reproach nor beneath any suspicion. I insist upon knowing
where you have been, and with whom? So, then, you refuse to speak, you
will not tell. If it be Lady Hester's secret--"

"No, no! The secret is mine, and mine only. I swear to you, by all we
both believe in, that it has no concern with any one save myself."

[Illustration: 470]

"And can you not confide it to me? Have I no right to ask for the
confidence, Kate?" said he, with tenderness.

"Know you any one more deeply and sincerely your friend than I am, more
ready to aid, protect, or counsel you?"

"But this I cannot--must not tell you," said she, in accents broken by
sobbing.

"Let me know, at least, enough to refute the insolence of an imputation
upon your conduct. I cannot tamely sit by and hear the slanderous
stories that to-morrow or next day will gain currency through the town."

"I cannot, I cannot," was all that she could utter.

"If not me, then, choose some other defender. Unprotected and undefended
you must not be."

"I need none, sir; none will asperse me!" said she, haughtily.

"What! you say this? while scarce five minutes since I saw you outraged,
insulted in the open street?"

A burst of tears, long repressed, here broke from Kate; and for some
minutes her sobs alone were heard in the silence.

"I will ask but one question more, Miss Dalton," said George, slowly,
as the carriage passed under the arched gateway of the Palace, "and then
this incident is sealed to me forever. Is this secret whatever it be in
your own sole keeping; or is your confidence shared in by another?"

"It is," murmured Kate, below her breath.

"You mean that it is shared?" asked he, eagerly.

"Yes, Mr. Jekyl at least knows--"

"Jekyl!" cried George, passionately; "and is Alfred Jekyl your adviser
and your confidant? Enough; you have told me quite enough," said he,
dashing open the door of the carriage as it drew up