"I will do so, ere long," she thought, "I cannot live always thus; but, for the present, I must wait. Until Mr. Winter's return--he is so wise, so practical--and I must consider poor nurse before myself. Oh, what an utter change since the day when I walked into the dear old priory drawing-room with my poor Cormac, and found Colonel Egerton there." And his face, and figure, and voice returned to her memory at her spirits' call, and she longed, with that intensity with which the prisoner in the body's cage strains itself against its bounds in unutterable pining to devour space--the wish to see him once more, to tell him all about her grandfather's death--her own deep sorrows, absorbed her fancy, and the hours rolled on while she listened in imagination to his rich, full, frank voice-- "Memory may mock thee with the tones So well-known and so dear-- 'Tis but an echo of the past, That cheats the longing ear; And thou must strive, and think, and hope, And hush each trembling sigh, And struggle onward in the way Thy destined course doth lie." "Och! are ye all alone be yerself, asthore?" asked nurse, entering, "an' the big salt tears rowlin' down yer face. What was it vexed ye--tell yer own nurse?" "Nothing, dear nurse. I was only thinking," returned Kate, drying her eyes, and endeavoring to smile; "is it time to dress?" "Nearly, asthore!" "I wonder Mr. Winter has not written; my last letter remains unanswered," observed Kate, after a silence of some minutes. "Ye'll have one to-morrow, acushla," said Mrs. O'Toole, who was always ready to promise herself, and those she loved every possible good, in prospect. "An faith ye hav'nt ten minutes left to dress, an' all thim grand officers an' ladies to be here to-night; sure I'm as plaised as if I was made Lady Liftinant, to see ye among yer own sort again; not goin to thim shopkeepin gintry, at Bayswather, me heavy hatred to it. Thim Miss Merrydeaths, are mighty agreeable young ladies, I see thim walkin the other day, laughin like grigs they wor; what a quare name they have, sure it's no wondher they're wishin to change it." "Are they?" asked Kate, smiling. "To be sure they are, it's not natral for thim to be sich playful kittins at their time in life, but may be if they wer quite, they'd be mistakin for full grown cats." "Really, nurse, you are so severe this evening, I must run away from you." "The blessin iv heaven go with ye, where-ever ye go; an jist let me fasten this top hook; there now, here's yer gloves, an' there's not the like iv ye in the Queen's Coort, let alone Hampton Coort," murmured Mrs. O'Toole, as Kate kissed her hand to her, and descended to the drawing-room.