"Very well then, you shall do it, my dear child; but you cannot, of course, do it to-night. It is a very important step, and you must choose deliberately, and after due and careful thought. In the meantime, Great Ormond Street is your temporary resting-place, where you are quite safe, and can make your plans in peace. As for me, I am your elderly relative, and we, I mean Mrs Plant and I, are delighted to have the monotony of the place relieved by your coming. Now, is this right?--does it set your little fluttering heart at rest?" "Yes, thank you, Mr Garstang. I--I am greatly relieved." "Very well then, let us set all `the cares that infest the day,' as the poet has it, aside, and have a calm, restful evening. You need it, and I must confess that I do not feel in my customary fettle, as the country folk call it. Why, you look better already. I see how it is. Your mind is more at ease." She smiled. "That's right; and by the way, man-like I did not think of it till I reached my office to see some letters. I did tell Mrs Plant to try and make everything right for you here, but it never occurred to me that a lady is not like a man." She looked at him wonderingly. "I mean that a man can get along with a clean collar, a tooth-brush, and a pocket-comb, while a lady--" He stopped and smiled. "Now, look here, my child," he said, "I will leave you for a few minutes while you ring and have up Mrs Plant. You can give her what instructions you like about immediate necessities, and they can be fetched while we are at dinner. Other things you can obtain at leisure yourself." "Thank you, Mr Garstang," said Kate, with the look of confidence in her eyes increasing, as she rose from her seat and laid her hands in his. "No, no, please don't," he said, with a pleasant smile, as he gently returned the pressure of her hands, and then dropped them. "Let's see, dinner in half an hour." He looked at his watch. "Don't think me a gourmet, please, because I think a good deal of my dinner; for I work very hard, and I find that I must eat. There, I'll leave you for a bit." He laid his book on the table, nodded and smiled, and walked out of the room, while with the tears rising to her eyes Kate stood gazing after him, feeling that the cloud hanging over her was lightening, and that she was going to find rest. She rang, and Sarah Plant appeared with her head on one side, looking more withered than ever, and to her was explained the needs of the moment. "Yes, ma'am," said the woman, plaintively; "of course I'll go, only there's the dinner, and if I wait till afterwards the shops will be shut up. I don't think you or master would like Becky to wait table with her face tied up, and if I make her take the handkerchief off she'll go into shrieking hysterics, and that will be worse. And then--would you mind looking out, ma'am?" She walked slowly across to the window, and drew aside one of the heavy curtains.