She was not quite as keen about the money as her mother, and was inclined--nay, anxious--to be amiable. Madeline West, the great Australian heiress, had possibilities in her power. She was resolved to be friendly with her, and to reinstate her at once as the favourite pupil of former days, burying in oblivion the teacher interlude. The girls Madeline had met walked on disappointed, saying to one another-- “Fancy _that_ being Maddie West! How awful she looks! So seedy, and so thin and careworn; and she is barely my age--in fact, she is a week younger!” “And so frightfully shabby,” put in another. “Did you see her dress--all creases?” “And her gloves!” (The gloves were apparently beyond description.) “All the same, Miss Harper was making a great fuss--a great deal of her. It was ‘dear’ this, and ‘love’ that. She is never affectionate for nothing. I know the old boa-constrictor so well. Perhaps Maddie has been left a fortune?” hazarded the sharpest of the party. “Her dress and jacket looked extremely like it,” sneered number one. “As to her hat, I saw it in at Mason’s this morning--I noticed it particularly, marked eleven and ninepence. _That_ looks like being an heiress! Oh, very much so, indeed!” The price of the hat settled the question! CHAPTER X. MRS. KANE BECOMES AFFECTIONATE. Mrs. Harper would not hear of Madeline returning to London by night. No, it was a most shocking idea, and not to be entertained. She must remain until the next day at least, “and travel properly,” which meant that Miss Harper herself conducted the heiress to Riverside, and saw her off by the morning express, first class. It was in vain that Madeline protested that such precautions were quite unnecessary. She was anxious to save her fare, and return third; for, even with such wealth as one hundred and eighty pounds, every shilling would be required. But her voice was silenced. Miss Harper carried the day, took her late pupil to the station, gave her into the charge of the guard, and even went so far as to present her with a two-shilling novel, to wile away the journey (an attention that she hoped would bear fruit by-and-by). But Madeline did not need it; her own thoughts were sufficient to absorb her whole attention as she travelled rapidly homeward. She was sensible of some disquieting pangs when she thought of Laurence. Would he be angry when he heard that his wife had once more assumed her maiden name, and pretended that she was still Madeline West?