"Mamma is out, Helen, and she would not like it if Kathleen went without leave." "But mamma is with us, Alpine. She would chaperon Kathleen." "She can not possibly go," began Alpine, in a high tone of authority; but at that moment a light swish of silken draperies came through the hall, and a sweet voice said, clearly: "Kathleen _can_ go, Helen, and she _will_ go, too, if you will wait till she gets on her things." And Alpine beheld her step-sister, cool, calm, defiant, rustle up to Helen Fox and kiss that piquant, silk-robed damsel. "Come upstairs with me, Helen, dear, while I dress," she said, radiantly, trying to draw her toward the stairway, for this colloquy had taken place in the hall. Alpine followed them upstairs out of reach of the servants' ears, and then she said, sharply: "You need not get ready, Kathleen, for I shall assume mamma's authority in her absence, and forbid your going." "Oh, Alpine, where is the harm?" pleaded Helen. "Mamma has forbidden her to go to the theater any more this week, because she caught her making eyes at an actor on the stage last night," Alpine answered, maliciously. "It is false!" answered the young girl, stung to madness by Alpine's wickedness. Turning to Helen, she said, proudly: "I accept your invitation, Helen, and will accompany you to the theater, in spite of a hundred Alpine Belmonts! I am no slave to be domineered over in this manner, and Alpine had better go and leave me alone before she arouses me any further." "Very well, miss; take your own way and defy _me_; but mamma will make you repent it, be sure of that," snapped Alpine, withdrawing. "Oh, Kathleen, I didn't know I was going to raise such a breeze! Perhaps you had better not go if Mrs. Carew objects," Helen said, uneasily. Kathleen turned on her a face crimson with angry passion. "I'd go if she killed me for it!" she cried, with an imperious stamp of her dainty foot. "Who is that woman to forbid my going to places of amusement, like other girls?" She rang the bell violently for Susette, and added: "Say nothing before my maid, Helen; but on our way to the theater I'll tell you how wickedly Alpine treated me this afternoon." Presently Alpine, peeping through her door, saw the two girls going away, Helen a little uneasy looking, the other proud, defiant, beautiful as a dream. "She will meet Ralph Chainey, after all," Alpine muttered, in a fury. * * * * * It was midnight when Mrs. Fox's carriage stopped again at the Carew mansion, and George handed Kathleen out and rang the bell for her at her own door. The windows were closed, and not the faintest gleam of light shone through them. George waited a few moments, then rang the bell again. "Every one must be asleep, they are so long coming," said Kathleen, shivering in the cold night air.