"Oh, well," said Mr. Thorold, a trifle more cheerfully, and with a shrug of resignation. "But I shall not go unavenged. Young man, you do not know what lies before you. She will make a slave of you, as she has made a slave of me; this girl is a tyrant of the most outrageous kind. You will not possess a soul of your own; you will----" "Bravo, Dad!" interrupted Kitty. "But it will be quite time enough to give me away when we get to the church. There's your hat, on the bust there." "And now we'll go on the bust ourselves," said the young man joyously. "I say, how jolly it all is! Would you mind my kissing her, sir?" He was in the middle of the somewhat lengthy act, when the door opened, and Selinar-Ann announced in awe-stricken tones: "Lidy 'Awborough!" And her ladyship swept in. [Illustration] With his arm still round Kitty, her lover stared at the portly dame as if she were a gorgon. Kitty, with a stifled exclamation of astonishment, freed herself with difficulty from the young man's grasp, and, with blushing face, hastened to greet the august visitor, whom Mr. Thorold was regarding with an air of patient resignation. But Lady Hawborough put out one hand to keep Kitty back, and, fixing her lover with a stony stare, exclaimed sepulchrally: "Archibald!" There was a profound silence for a moment; then Kitty, staring in her turn at her lover, echoed the objectionable word; for it was a name she detested. "Archibald! His name's Harry!" "His name is _Archibald_," said Lady Hawborough sternly. "I ought to know; for he is my nephew." "Your nephew!" gasped Kitty. The young man, having recovered from a fright which no shrapnel built by Krupp could have caused him, now came forward with hand extended. "How are you, Aunt?--yes, it's my aunt, right enough. Didn't I tell you? Must have forgotten to mention it: ought to be ashamed of myself, for Aunt Philippa's been awfully good to me. Aunt, this young lady is----" "I know quite well enough who she is, Archibald," broke in Lady Hawborough severely. "What I want to know is--What does this mean?" "Oh, I see!" he stammered. "Oh, well, it means--of course, you saw when you came in? It means that Kitty here--Miss Thorold, allow me to introduce you to my aunt. Mr. Thorold, my aunt, Lady Hawborough. Aunt Philippa, Mr. Thorold: he is the father of this young lady, Kitty here, who has done me the very great honour of promising to marry me. Sounds impossible; but it's true!" Lady Hawborough stalked to the nearest chair and, with stately dignity seated herself on it, very much as a judge might take his place on the dreadful bench. "Girl," she said, in her deepest tones, "why have you tricked, deceived me?" Then, suddenly, as if influenced by a peculiar expression in Kitty's eyes, an expression which conveyed a kind of warning, her ladyship faltered, opened her lips once or twice, then said, in quite a different tone, indeed, almost meekly: