And Catherine passed on to her own apartment, and Henny went her errand. Very soon the housekeeper entered the chamber, and found Catherine busily engaged among linen, stockings, cravats, and other “belongings.” “I want your assistance, Mrs. Mercer, in preparing Major Clifton’s wardrobe this week.” “My dear child, I am so sorry! But I have been waiting for an hour to speak to you. The truth is, I have just got a letter from my son-in-law, who writes that my daughter is very, extremely low, with the bilious pleurisy, and wants me to come right over to L—— immediately, without loss of time, and I thought I would ask you for a leave of absence, till she got better.” “And, certainly, I could not refuse it, Mrs. Mercer. I am sorry your daughter is ill.” “And, my dear child, I was going to ask you if you could let me have one of the mules this morning, and I would send it back to-morrow?” “The weather is too cold, and the journey too arduous for a woman of your age to perform it in that manner. Tell Dandy to put the horses to the carriage for you.” “The carriage, dear honey, I shouldn’t think of such a thing. As many years as I have been living in the family, I never used the carriage once. The mule will do very well, if you will let me order him?” “Mrs. Mercer, why not? I shall not want it to-day. To-morrow Dandy can bring it home.” “God bless you, child! you are so good hearted! It is a sin too to leave you, so thronged as you are with work.” “No, I can get—get through,” replied Kate, with the same troubled, preoccupied air that had marked her manner the whole morning. Mrs. Mercer soon after took leave and departed. An hour after this, Catherine heard Major Clifton enter the hall door and come up stairs. To her surprise, he paused before her chamber door and rapped. When she opened it, he said— “Will you favor me with your company in my study for a few minutes, Mrs. Clifton?” Catherine immediately laid down her work and followed him. When they reached the study, he set her a chair near the writing-table, and dropping into another, drew a portfolio before him, opened it, and turning out a number of papers, said— “Mrs. Clifton, I told you, some weeks since, that at my departure, and during my indefinite absence, I should be obliged to leave this estate under your charge?” “Yes,” answered Catherine attentively. “I am well aware that it is undoubtedly an onerous burden and responsibility for one so young, but, when you feel it so, remember that you, yourself, courted the position, and must be content to take the toils with the honors, real or imaginary.” Passing over his bitter jibe, Catherine said— “You need not doubt in leaving all to my care that all will go well. I am not twenty yet, it is true, but I have had much work and much experience for my age, so that every year I have lived since ten years old has counted double. You need suffer no anxiety in trusting me.”