"So pleased!" she murmured softly. "So happy; so _braced_! In the midst of this alien throng to meet a Kindred Soul,--that is refreshment indeed!" She held Katrine's hand between both of her own, gazing at her with a fond affection. "Tell me, dear; I am so pining to know,--_which_ of my books do you cherish most?" That "cherish" struck a jarring note, but Katrine's answer came none the less promptly. She had no hesitation in pronouncing her preference for _Eleanor_; it was her hearer who for a moment looked blank and vague. "Ah-h!" she said thoughtfully, then with a sudden radiant smile, "I call her Nellie! We mothers have pet names for our children. Dear little Nell! She was a sweet thing. Hard on her, wasn't it, while still so young? So dear of you to love her... Well, dear, I shall always remember you, and love you for your sweet sympathy. And you want my autograph, of course? Don't mind asking--I shall be only _too_ pleased!" Katrine's flush deepened to rose. Bewilderment, embarrassment, and a chilling disillusion seemed for the moment to have deprived her of speech. The gorgeous figure towered over her, the brilliant eyes blazed relentlessly upon her face. Grizel stood meekly in the background, her face all infantile sweetness. "I,--thank you! I don't collect autographs, but I shall be--honoured to have yours. Miss Dundas can give you my address." "That's quite all right. I'll send it soon, with an appropriate quotation for your dear little album. `Be good, sweet maid, All lame dogs aid,' With best wishes from Nellie's Mother..." She smirked once more. Katrine was breathlessly demanding of herself if this could indeed be the woman who had written such masterly books, when the girl who had been standing at a discreet distance during the short interview, came forward and spoke in an apologetic voice:-- "Mrs Singleton! I'm sorry, but father has an appointment to meet a friend in the rose garden, I'm afraid we must really move on." "Singleton... Incognito! The name she travels by, don't you know," naughty Grizel mumbled in explanation, as the little party turned away, but the truth burst upon Katrine in an all-illuminating flash, and she was not to be caught again. "Grizel, you horror! To make me a laughing stock... What a fool she must have thought me, standing gaping with admiration! `Nellie's Mother' indeed! An idol toppled at that moment. I _was_ disillusioned, but living in the same house with an author prepares one for so many eccentricities, that I still believed... Well! it came off very well that time, but don't try it again!" Grizel continued to chuckle in soft, retrospective enjoyment.