Lady---- welcomed him unresentfully-- "Just, only just in time. I am going to send you down with Miss Archinard--over there talking to my husband--she is such a clever girl." Peter was conscious of a shock of surprise; a shock so strong that Lady---- saw a really striking change come over his face. Peter himself was startled by his own pleasure and eagerness. "Evidently you know her; and evidently you _were_ going to be bored and are _not_ going to be now! Your change of expression is really unflattering!" Lady---- laughed good humoredly. "I haven't seen her for ten years; we were the greatest chums. Oh! it isn't Hilda, then!" Odd caught sight of the young lady. "I am _very_ sorry it isn't 'Hilda.' Hilda is the beauty; she is, unfortunately, almost an unknown quantity; but Katherine will be a stepping-stone, and I assure you that she is worth cultivation on her own account." Yes, Katherine was a stepping-stone; that atoned somewhat for the disappointment that Odd felt as he followed his hostess across the room. "Miss Archinard--an old friend. Mr. Odd tells me he has not seen you for ten years." "Mr. Odd!" cried Miss Archinard. She was evidently very glad to see him. "It is astonishing, isn't it?" said Peter. "Ten years does mean something, doesn't it?" "So much and yet so little. It hasn't changed you a bit," said Katherine. "And here is papa. Papa, isn't this nice? Mr. Odd, do you remember the day you fished Hilda out of the river? Poor Hilda! And her romantic farewell escapade?" Captain Archinard was changed; his hair had become very white, and his good looks well worn, but his greeting had the cordiality of old friendship. "And Hilda?" Peter questioned, as he and Katherine went into the dining-room together. "Hilda is well? And as lovely as ever?" "Well, and as lovely as ever," Katherine assured him. "She is not here because she rarely goes out. Papa and I are the frivolous members of the family. Mamma goes in for culture, and Hilda for art." Peter had a good look at her as they sat side by side. Katherine was no more beautiful than in childhood, but she was distinctly interesting and--yes--distinctly charming. Her black eyes, deeply set under broad eyebrows, held the same dominant significance; humorous, cynical, clever eyes. Her white teeth gave a brilliant gayety to her smile. There was distinction in her coiffure--the thick deeply rippled hair parted on one side, and coiled smoothly from crown to neck; and Peter recognized in her dress a personal taste as distinctive--the long unbroken lines of her nasturtium velvet gown were untinged by any hint of so-called artistic dowdiness, and yet the dress wrinkled about her waist as she moved with a daring elegance far removed from the moulded conventionality of the other women's bodices. This glowing gown was cut off the shoulders; Katherine's shoulders were beautiful, and they were triumphantly displayed.