Her father took it, read aloud: "Lady Hawborough, 209, Belgrave Square," and then emitted a low whistle. "My word, Kitty, you've gone and done it!" he said. "If this is _the_ Lady Hawborough--and Nature, with all her audacity, cannot have made two of them--you've run up against a celebrity of the deepest dye." "Oh?" said Kitty. "Never heard of her. What's she celebrated for?" "For good works--which means, in most cases, a disposition and a capacity for interfering in the affairs of other people. And her ladyship is one of the biggest and most incorrigible interferers in this crank of a world of ours. She is immensely rich; she is also 'powerful,' as the novelists say; she is a tyrant to her relations, a terror to her friends, and a well-meaning, charitable bugbear to the world in general." "Oh!" said Kitty, somewhat dismayed. "But how is it you are so intimately acquainted with the history and characteristics of this lady of lofty rank and goodly oof?" "My dear Kitty, 'oof' is not nearly such a good word as 'wealth.'" [Illustration: The Ant Lion _Painted for Princess Mary's Gift Book by E. J. Detmold_] "Maybe, but it's easier to pronounce," retorted Kitty. "Oh, I don't know," said Mr. Thorold, as if he were weary of the subject. "Heard some one at the Club talking about her; seen her name in the papers. Take my advice and don't call. She'll enlist you in one of her gangs of workers, hustle you into a hospital as a nurse, make you into a district visitor, or turn you a lecturer on vegetarianism or some other fad." [Illustration] "Oh no, she won't," said Kitty, with sublime confidence; "not that I should object to being a nurse--that is, if I hadn't already to look after an aged and infirm parent. Yes; much as I value your advice, Dad, I think I'll call. I'll go to-morrow; and if I come back, say, in a Salvation Army kit, and banging a tambourine--and, mind you! I might do worse: I've a whole-hearted admiration for the S.A. and the uniform is distinctly fetching--you can indulge in the exquisite pleasure of exclaiming, 'I told you so!' What are you on this morning, Dad?" she asked, going to him, putting her arm round his neck, and giving him a little hug. "Sketch for an illustration for the _Long Acre Magazine_," he said, with a kind of resignation; for your most gifted artist has to do pot-boilers nowadays: and generally he does them well. "The girl's all right, anyhow," said Kitty. "Where's the man?" "Oh, I'm going to stick him in directly," said Mr. Thorold. "He's to be a soldier, and I've got a young fellow coming as a model presently. Ran against him in a rather extraordinary way. He called on me yesterday with an introduction from Bloxham: said he had never sat as model before; but that he was hard up, and would do his best. Fine young fellow, and a nice taking sort of chap altogether." "Burglar in disguise, coming to inspect the premises, no doubt," surmised Kitty cheerfully.