"A good many things," Mrs. Burton said, warming to her subject, and feeling relieved already by the careless ease of Katherine's manner. "Mary always avoids Mr. Ferrars when it is possible to do so, and I have never once seen her touch his hand, though she shakes hands with every other person she meets. I have even seen her shake hands with Oily Dave, a thing I would not do myself."
"Am I to understand, then, that if one person will not shake hands with another it is a sign of being in love?" asked Katherine in a teasing tone. "Because, if so, what about your own refusal to touch the hand of Oily Dave?"
Mrs. Burton laughed, and her heart felt lighter than for many days past; for if Katherine could laugh and make jokes in this fashion, it was plain there was no harm done. So she drew a long breath and went on: "I wish you would try to be serious for a few minutes and listen to me. What is only fun to you may be grim earnest to poor Mary, and I like her so well that I do not care to think of her missing the best thing that life can give her."
"Which is——?" queried Katherine mischievously.
"Which is the love she longs for," Mrs. Burton answered, with a sentimental sigh.
Katherine broke into irrepressible laughter. Then, when her mirth had subsided a little, she said: "Just fancy speaking of a girl as 'Poor Mary' whose father has an income of five or six thousand pounds a year!"
"Still, she is poor in spite of her money if she can't get what she wants," Mrs. Burton said, sticking to her point. "Money isn't everything by a long way, and you can't satisfy heart-hunger with dollars, or pounds either."
"Did Mary take you into her confidence concerning this want which money can't satisfy?" demanded Katherine, a touch of scorn in her tone and a chill feeling at her heart, as if someone had laid an icy finger upon it.
"Dear me, no! Mary is not the sort of girl to go round howling about what she wants but can't get," Mrs. Burton replied. "But I have eyes in my head, and I think a married woman sees more, and has a larger understanding of affairs of the heart, than a girl who has had no experience at all."
"That is very probable," Katherine said quietly, while the chill feeling grew and intensified, despite her efforts to make light of the matter. "But what has all this to do with me? Do you want me to approach Mr. Ferrars on the subject, and say to him that he had better make haste and satisfy the heart-hunger of the rich Miss Selincourt?"