“You alarm yourself unnecessarily,” he said calmly, almost coldly; “I am the bearer of no ill tidings: that I have an object in visiting you I do not deny; whether you will consider it a justifiable one I know not; I regard it in the light of a duty, and therefore, even at the risk of paining and offending you, it must be performed.” He paused for a reply, but as Kate remained silent, he continued: “Your brothers are mere boys, your father a confirmed invalid; circumstances lead me to doubt whether your--whether Mr. Crane is aware of the character of a person who is, I am grieved to find, a constant visitor at this house; and I therefore conceive I have a duty to discharge to one whom I have known from childhood--one in whose welfare an irrevocable past, which cannot be forgotten while memory remains, forces me to interest myself. Kate, I am here to warn you against the insidious advances of that heartless profligate, Horace D’Almayne!” As he spoke, he fixed his eyes upon her with a searching glance. Kate coloured, drew herself up haughtily, and appeared about to make an angry reply; checking the impulse almost as it arose, she answered-- “I am bound, and indeed most willing to believe, you mean kindly by me; I will therefore explain to you that which I would not have condescended to explain to any other man living--that I merely admit Mr. D’Almayne’s intimacy to oblige my husband, who has become so accustomed to his society and services, as to consider them indispensable. Mr. D’Almayne may or may not deserve the harsh epithets you apply to him; but if you are aware of any circumstances seriously affecting his character, it is to Mr. Crane you should mention them, not to me.” For a moment Arthur remained silent, then pressing his hand to his forehead, he murmured inaudibly, “She can actually stoop to deceit!--is such a change possible!” Surprised and hurt at his silence, Kate resumed: “Why do you not speak? You look at me as if you doubted my assertion!” Unheeding her question, Arthur still continued to regard her with an expression in which grief, surprise, and disapproval, contended for the mastery. At length he said, in a low deep voice, which caused a shudder to pass through the frame of his auditor-- “I have suffered much on your account, but such pain as this I never thought to experience!--Kate, you once said you had never attempted to deceive me--can you say so now?” “I am at a loss to understand you,” was the reply; and as she grew angry at what she deemed unmerited insult, her self-possession returned, and she spoke in her usual cold, hard tone of voice. “I can only repeat what I before stated, that I allow Mr. D’Almayne’s intimacy merely to oblige my husband. From your manner you still appear to doubt the fact--may I ask why?” Arthur paused for a moment, then, with an eager and excited voice, he exclaimed--