"So you see, dear Mrs. Belswin," said Kaituna, pursuing her own train of thought, "that if Archie wants to marry me for my money, I shall not have any."
Mrs. Belswin caught the girl in her arms and kissed her with rare tenderness.
"My dear," she said kindly, smoothing the dark hair, "Archie loves you for yourself, not for your money. Now go downstairs, dear, and excuse me to your father."
"And you will see him to-night about Archie?"
Mrs. Belswin gasped in a somewhat hysterical manner, and caught at the mantelpiece for support, as she repeated the words.
"I will see him to-night--about--about--Archie."
Kaituna was satisfied and departed, but when the door was closed after her, Mrs. Belswin rushed madly across the room, and, flinging herself on her knees before the door, burst out into a terrible fit of crying.
"Oh, my dear! my dear!" she wailed, in a low moaning manner, "what can I do? what can I do? If your father dies you will be left penniless; if he lives I shall have to leave you forever--for ever, my dear--and go away into the outer darkness. Oh, God! God! is there nothing I can do?"
She looked up at the painted ceiling, as if expecting an answer, but none came; so, rising wearily to her feet, she locked the door, and dragged herself slowly towards the mirror.
"What an old, old woman I look," she muttered, peering into the glass. "Grey hairs in the black; wrinkles in the smooth face. I wonder if he will recognise me. Surely not! Twenty years make a great difference. I will see him now in another two hours. He never dreams I am under the same roof, unless Dombrain----"