"This is my dear friend's son," she said, turning to her companion. "You know how often I have spoken of Marianne to you."
Slowly, reluctantly the boy left Katharine's side, and took the hand held out to him.
"I thought you were far away in America," Mrs Stanhope said.
"We have come back," the boy answered simply.
"Ah me," she said, with a glance at Clifford and Katharine. "The dead are soon forgotten."
And she added:
"Well, dear boy, some other time we must have another long talk together. And remember I am always waiting for you—for your dear mother's sake."
And she passed on, but they heard her saying aloud to her friend:
"And that is the woman I told you about. She amuses herself with men and throws them over, just as she threw over Willy Tonedale, my poor infatuated cousin. And now she is amusing herself with this widower. She might have had the decency to wait a little longer until poor Marianne——"
Katharine hurried after the two women.