"Not as much as I wish, but I am fighting for it, and will fight to the end. John Temple is a dreamer; but we can not live in dreams. Had he been worth anything his name would have been known now at the bar, as yours is." "And--" hesitated Webster, "you have heard nothing of him lately?" "Not a word. But you seem interested? Have you ever met him?" "I think not," answered Webster. "Do you know to what family of Temples he belongs?" "I can not even tell you that. He told me he was a younger son's son, I remember, and he was fairly well off, and by no means given to extravagance, though in his first ardor he actually gave me the diamond earrings that so nearly got me into trouble--but for you." "It is kind of you to say so." "It is true; that woman Margaret Johnstone, who was as brazen as brass, broke down under your cross-examination like a reed with the strong wind. How powerful you were! Every word told." "You must not flatter me." "I never flatter; but the truth is that you have deservedly made a name, and will make a still greater one. I shall swagger some day that my case was won by the great Q. C., Sir Ralph Webster." Ralph Webster laughed, and a faint color stole to his dark face, and then he rose to take his leave. "Going so soon?" said Kathleen Weir. "Then I must conclude you are tired of my company." "Please conclude nothing of the sort, but I am going to dine with two very kind old aunts at Bayswater, and I must not keep them waiting." "No, of course not," and Kathleen Weir held out her white hand. "I am coming out in a new piece to-morrow; will you go and see me act, and then have supper with me afterward?" "It is a most tempting invitation--" "That is settled then, and now I will give you a ticket, or tickets, whichever you like. But I warn you not to bring the aunts, as the piece is a trifle fast." "Still I should like to see it--and to see you act." "Of course you must say that!" And Kathleen Weir rose and laughed as she did so, and, having crossed the room, she opened an inlaid cabinet, and brought out some stall tickets and placed two in Webster's hand. "One is for to-morrow; the other for Friday--and good-by for the present; this has been your first visit to me, but I trust it will not be your last." "I am quite sure it will not if you give me permission to come." "I do give you permission; you will always be welcome here." They shook hands and parted; and after Webster was gone Kathleen Weir went to a mirror at one side of the room and looked at herself attentively. "I wonder if he thinks me good-looking," she was reflecting. "What a clever face he has! He is a man I think that a woman could be desperately in love with; that she could give up everything for, though more fool she! Luckily, I never fall in love, and I mean to stick to this in spite of Mr. Webster."