"Is he?" said Katharine simply. "I noticed him in the Park yesterday afternoon, and standing outside the Opera last night."
"You're an angel!" said Mr. Guyon, again performing the paternal salute. "What are you going to do to-morrow?"
"I thought of going to the Botanical Gardens in the afternoon--it's the last fête of the season."
"You shall go! I'll take you myself! You--you have not asked young Frere to call again, have you?"
"No, papa. I----"
"Of course. I only wanted to know. Don't, until I tell you. And now I must be off. God bless you, my child!"
But though Mr. Guyon took farewell of his daughter he was not "off" yet; for he spent half an hour in his dressing-room, his head resting on his hand, and his busy mind full of thought.
[CHAPTER III.]
WITHIN THE PALE.
Three days had elapsed since the interview between Katharine Guyon and Gordon Frere, which had gone so far towards deciding the destiny of both, when that haughty young lady learned, with some astonishment and more disdain, that her father had it in contemplation to invite Mr. Streightley, the "tradesman" on whom she had called "in the City," to one of his quiet and limited, but very recherché dinners. She heard the announcement with such surprise that her father actually took the trouble of observing the expression of her face, and laughed quite spontaneously at it.