It was a dull little sitting-room, in a dull little house, in a dull little neighbourhood, but then the aforesaid neighbourhood was eminently respectable, and that satisfied Mrs. Belswin. In her dread lest her daughter should be tainted by Bohemianism, Mrs. Belswin had gone to the opposite extreme, and, with the assistance of Archie, taken lodgings in a severely respectable quarter, where church bells rang every other hour of the day, and nothing less genteel than a four-wheeler was ever seen in the dingy street.
Their abode was situated in Grail Street, which was so deserted that it put the reflective in mind of London during the plague, especially as a hearse was no uncommon sight owing to the undertakers (Wilps & Co., High Class Pauper Furnishers) being at the corner. All the houses were sad-looking, in keeping with the corner establishment, and Kaituna's face was sad also as she looked out on to the lonely road on which fell the fine rain.
Dressed in black, with her hands lying listlessly in her lap, and her face thin and worn with trouble, Kaituna looked a very different girl in the dingy London lodging from what she had been at Thornstream. Mrs. Belswin thought so as she glanced at her after answering the money question, and went across to her with a look of anxiety on her face.
"Kaituna, my dearest, do not look so sad," she said, tenderly bending over the girl. "You make me feel so terribly anxious."
Kaituna pushed her thick hair wearily off her forehead, and sighed deeply.
"I cannot help looking sad," she replied, listlessly; "I feel sad. A few months ago and I was so happy; now everything is taken away from me."
"Not everything, dear. You have still me."
"You!" echoed Kaituna, with a wan smile, taking the elder woman's hand. "Ah, Mrs. Belswin, what should I have done without you, my good angel!"
"Don't call me a good angel, dear," said Mrs. Belswin, hurriedly. "I am not good. God help me! had I been good things would have been different."
"I don't know what you refer to," replied Kaituna, simply, stroking the hand she held. "All I know is that you have been good to me. Without you I should have died. You are my only friend."