"But this is all waste of time," resumed Winter, "and you will have enough to do to be ready to return with me by the two o'clock train--Mrs. Winter expects us to tea this evening." "This evening!--Oh! I can be ready in a moment," cried Kate rapturously. "But,"--her countenance fell--"I must not, I fear--I could not be rude to these people; they have been civil to me in their way." "_Poter del mondo! cospetta!_" cried Winter thickly and stoutly; "I will lose sight of you no more, and I have no time to stay in this confounded cotton-spinning metropolis. Let me see these dragons of yours. I am he that will bell the cat." So they went into the front parlour, Kate still clinging to his arm. "My friend, Mr. Winter, Mrs. Jorrocks," said Kate. "Please to sit down, sir," returned that lady. "I am come to take Miss Vernon away with me," began Winter, in abrupt and decided tones. "Oh! you be----But I think it is rather sudden. What am I to do--and where will you be if I say no?" "My dear madam, I shall still be in Carrington. It is quite natural you should not like to part with Miss Vernon; in short, she expressed to me her reluctance to leave you, abruptly, and all that sort of thing; but I want her, and my wife wants her, and I am sure you will not stand in her way." Here Mrs. Wilson entered in a new cap, and Winter was duly presented. "This gentleman is for taking Miss Vernon away to-day. I declare he has quite took away my breath," said Mrs. Jorrocks. "_Never_," returned her daughter. "Well, if that isn't the strangest thing." "Oh! as Miss Vernon is in such a hurry I'll not stop her, only since she has broken her engagement she must take the consequences." "That is not of the least importance," said Mr. Winter. "It would distress me to seem rude where I have received courtesy," said Kate; "but surely you must sympathise in my anxiety to be once more domesticated with such kind and valued friends. Mr. Winter must return to town; I should much like to accompany him." And thereupon Mesdames Jorrocks and Wilson burst forth into a vociferous and vituperative duet-- "There was gratitude for you! She had been treated more like a daughter than a dependent; and what was she but a companion after all. There was no end to the favours she had received, but it was the way with the Irish always. It would be a lesson to them how to treat the next companion they got! And now, when this gentleman, whom they had never heard of before, appears, as if from the clouds, Miss Vernon is ready to walk off with him. It was very odd his wife (if he _had_ a wife) could not wait a day or two--people who had to earn their bread should be very careful--and what would Mr. Wilson say," &c., &c. "Kate, my dear," said Winter, coolly, "go and put up your things--I see this is no place for you--I will wait here."