"Gammon!" replied Kate, pulling the pony short up by the kerbstone. "There's the house. It's not much to look at, but it's better inside than out, since she's found a chance friend, poor thing! Run up-stairs and see her. Say I meant to have taken her out for a drive, but I'll come again in the afternoon. I never did--I never will--believe you're a bad-hearted fellow, Frank; but you've done no end of mischief here. Go and undo it now." So Kate drove off at high pressure, leaving Frank on the door-step, confronting a maid-of-all-work, who, seeming to expect him, yet glanced from time to time with considerable interest and approval at his general appearance and outline. He was shown into a clean, neatly furnished apartment, from which he could distinctly hear his announcement as "The gentleman, if you please, ma'am," and the rustle of a dress that followed this information. Then the door opened, and Miss Ross stopped short on the threshold, exclaiming only-- "Frank!" The tone denoted nothing but extreme and overwhelming astonishment. Looking in her face, he could not but admit she was sadly altered. A few short weeks had changed the brilliant, piquante beauty to a faded invalid, with wan, wasted features, lit up only by the wonderful black eyes. His first thought was the humiliating question--"Can this be the woman I fancied I loved so dearly?" His second brought a manly and natural resolution to stand by her all the more firmly for her distress. "Jin," he exclaimed, "why did you leave me like that? What has been the matter? and why didn't you trust entirely to _me_?" He would have taken her in his arms, but she waved him off, and the delight that had flashed across her face when she confronted him gave way to a cold, unnatural reserve. "Did you get my letter?" she asked. "And why are you here?" He explained how and why he had come, touching on the disappointment he experienced in the contents of her communication, trying to put into his tones that warmth of affection which he felt was completely extinguished in his heart. "I did not mean to see you again, Captain Vanguard," she said, in a measured voice; "I did not _wish_ to see you again. The person I expected was your friend, Mr. Picard. That man stands between us, and always must. I will have no more concealments now--no more foul play--no more crime. I have been punished enough; I pray heaven I may not be punished yet more! I deceived you, Captain Vanguard, because I--well--I believe I _did_ care for you, as much as it is in my wicked, heartless nature to care for anybody; but I meant you to marry me. And all the time Picard was my husband!" "Your husband!" He had no power to utter another word.