"And us, of course--that is, if we need care about the matter one way or the other, which I don't see that we need." "But if Katharine should have any conversation, any confidence with him?" faltered Robert. "There is not the faintest possibility of any such danger," said Mr. Guyon, with equal composure and decision. "I understand Katharine much better than you do, Robert, and I know that our invulnerable safety"--the younger man flushed and winced a little at the words--"consists in her indomitable pride. The one individual of all her acquaintance who will never exchange a confidential sentence with Katharine is Mr. Gordon Frere." And then Mr. Guyon promptly dropped the subject, and talked of money, racing, betting, and other serious pursuits of life; and after a short time took his leave of Robert, leaving him reassured, but with a fresh and bitter sense of humiliation. The time which had wrought so rapid a change in Gordon Frere, which had taught him to regard with forgiveness, which almost bordered on approbation, the fickleness and treachery of the woman against whom he had delivered the valedictory philippic,--which Charles Yeldham remembered with wonder and bewilderment,--had worked considerable alteration in Katharine's mood as well. Her fine nature had been hardened, her generous temper had been warped; a crust of worldliness and selfishness had formed over the hot heart, and the trustful impulses of youth were dead within her; but the maddening anger, the intolerable mortification, had subsided. A momentary thrill of these former emotions, mingled with the yearning of the heart towards the object of a passion, or even a fancy, had passed over her, when, in the crush and whirl of the ball-room, she had recognised Frere. But her strength of will and self-command had effectually put it down before the moment came when she found herself obliged to speak to him.