The door had hardly closed on him as he bore poor Kathleen out into the stormy night, when Alpine Belmont, disturbed by the noise, came gliding down the stairs, demanding the cause of the excitement. Mrs. Carew was pale and trembling in every limb, and she answered, reluctantly: "It's something not fit for a young girl's ears, my dear." "Oh, bosh! I'll find out from the servants if _you_ don't tell me," retorted Alpine; and then Mrs. Carew said, cunningly: "Well, if you must know such awful things, a woman came here demanding to see that disreputable brother of yours! You can imagine the sort of woman, crazy with drink, that would follow _him_! So I made Jones put her out into the street, and the whole disgraceful thing will be talked over by the servants by to-morrow." Alpine shivered with horror and disgust, and muttered: "I wish Ivan was dead! He is too wicked to live! The idea of that woman's effrontery!" Mrs. Carew thought to herself: "That was a good idea of mine! She believes every word. Good! for I would not like for her to know the truth. She has been so soft over that girl ever since her supposed death, that there's no telling what pity would lead her to do!" CHAPTER XXV. TEDDY DARRELL AGAIN. The snow lies white and the moon gives light, I'll out to the freezing mere, And I'll tell my mind to the friendly wind Because I have loved her so. INGELOW. Mrs. Carew's servant, Jones, was a very humane and tender-hearted man, and his heart swelled with anger as he obeyed the command of his mistress, and bore the fainting young girl out of the splendid abode of luxury and wealth into the cold and stormy night. He stopped under the flaring street-lamp and looked pityingly into the lovely white face that had fallen back against his arm. "Why, what a pretty young thing she is--little more than a child--and looks as innocent, too!" he soliloquized. "I'll bet my life that if she's ever done any harm, she's been betrayed into it by that scoundrelly Ivan Belmont that she came here to find! He ought to be hung, so he ought!" He glanced anxiously up and down the almost deserted avenue. The snow lay white and deep upon the ground, and the great flakes swirled through the air, striking him coldly in the face. "If I put her down here on the ground she will freeze to death, poor girl, that's certain!" he murmured, uneasily. "I just can't do such a wicked thing--no, not even if she _is_ bad, as Mrs. Carew said. Why, even if she was a murderess it wouldn't be right to leave her out here to die in the cold! But, land, what be I to do with her? That's what I want to know!" The whinny and stamp of an impatient horse attracted his attention at that moment. He turned his head and saw a smart cab waiting at the next door. The driver, half asleep, sat on his box, his head sunk into the collar of his great-coat.