There was a lamp on the table with a heavy shade, which concentrated all the light into a circle, and Kitty's pale face, with its aureole of fair hair seen in the powerful radiance, appeared strange and unreal. Dark circles under her heavy eyes, faint lines round the small mouth, and the weary look now habitual to her, all combined to give her face a wan and spiritual look which made even Mortimer shiver as he looked at her. "Hang it, Kitty," he said roughly, "don't look so dismal. You ought to see a doctor." "What for?" she asked listlessly. "I'm quite well." "Humph! I don't think so. You've been going down the hill steadily the last few months. Look how thin you are--a bag of bones." "So was Rachel," replied Caprice, with a faint smile. "Well, she didn't live very long. Besides, you ain't Rachel," growled Mortimer, "and I don't want you to get ill just now." "No, you could hardly supply my place," said Caprice, with a sneer. "Don't you bother yourself, Mortimer, I'm not going to die yet. When I do I sha'n't be sorry; life hasn't been so pleasant to me that I should wish to live." "I don't know what you want," grumbled the manager; "you've got all Melbourne at your feet." "I can't say much for Melbourne's morality, then," retorted Caprice bitterly; "circumstances have made me what I am, but I'm getting tired of the cakes and ale business. If I could only secure the future of my child, I'd turn religious." "Mary Magdalen!" "Yes, a case of history repeating itself, isn't it?" she replied, with a harsh laugh. "Strange!" said Mortimer, scrutinising her narrowly; "the worse a woman is in her youth, the more devout she becomes in her old age." "On the authority of M. de la Rochefoucauld, I suppose," answered Caprice; "old age gives good advice when it no longer can give bad example." "Who told you that?" "A man you never knew--Vandeloup." "I don't know that my not being acquainted with him was much to be regretted." "No, I don't think it was," replied Caprice coolly; "he had twice your brains--to know him was a liberal education." "In cheap cynicism, gad, you've been an apt pupil." Kitty laughed, and, rising from her seat, began to walk to and fro. "I wish those boys would come," she said restlessly; "I want to go home." "Then go," said Mortimer; "you needn't stay." "Oh, yes, I need," she replied; "I want to see that they get good terms for their play." "I'll give them a fair price," said Mortimer; "but I'm not going to be so liberal as you expect." "I've no doubt of that." "I believe you're sweet on that Stewart." "Perhaps I am!" "Meddlechip won't like that," "Pish! I don't care two straws for Meddlechip." "No; but you do for his money." "Of course; that goes without saying." "You're a hardened little devil, Caprice." "God knows I've had enough to make me hard," she replied bitterly, throwing herself down in her chair, with a frown.