"There's a look of pain in your eyes, a despondency in your very figure; don't you think I know every turn of you? Well, I won't say more if it annoys you. We have changed places, Katherine--I mean Miss Liddell. Fortune has given me a turn at last, and I have been tremendously busy. I had no idea how troublesome it is to be rich. There are compensations, however. This doesn't seem a bad sort of place"--looking round at the crowd of china and bric-a-brac ornaments and the comfortable chairs. "How did you come here, and what has been settled? Don't think me impertinent or intrusive; you know you agreed we should be friends, and you must not send me adrift!" "Thank you, Lord de Burgh. I am sure you could be a very loyal friend. My story is very short." And she gave him a brief sketch of how her affairs had been arranged. "By George! Ormonde is a mean sneak. To think of his leaving those boys on your hands! and he has plenty of money. I happen to know that his wife has been dabbling in the stocks, and turned some money too. Now where did she get the cash to do it with but from him? So I suppose you intend to starve yourself in order to educate the poor little chaps?" "Oh no. On the contrary, I am living on the fat of the land, with the kindest mistress in the world." "Mistress! Great heavens! Why _will_ you persist in such a life?" "My dear Lord de Burgh, don't you know that it is not always easy to judge or to act for another? "Which means I am to mind my own business?" "You have a very unvarnished style of stating facts." "I know I have." A short pause, and he began again. "Where are those boys now? "At Sandbourne. But, alas! I am going to take them away to-morrow. They are going to a school at Wandsworth." "Going down to Sandbourne to-morrow? Is Miss Payne going with you?" "Oh no; I don't need any one." "Nonsense! you can't go about alone. I'll meet you at the station and escort you there." Katherine laughed. "I am afraid that would never do. You have increased in importance and I have diminished, till the distance between our respective stations has widened far too much to permit of familiar intercourse, or--" "I never thought I should hear _you_ talking such rubbish. What difference can there be between us, except that you are a good woman and I am _not_ a good man? I don't think it's quite fair that on our first meeting after ages--at least quite two months of separation--you should talk in this satirical way." "I speak the words of truth and soberness, Lord de Burgh." "Perhaps. I can't quite make you out. I am certain you have been in worse trouble than even want of money. I wish you'd confide in me. That's the right word, isn't it? Do you know, I can be very true to my friends, and silent as the grave. I could tell _you_ everything." "Thank you. I am sure you could be a faithful friend." "Do you ever see Errington?" asked De Burgh, changing the subject abruptly. "Oh yes. He often comes here."