"No; perhaps she would see me here. Say also that Miss Florence Aylmer is with me."
The man withdrew. A moment later, Bertha, in her evening dress, looking pretty and excited, ran downstairs.
"What is it? What's the matter?" she said. "Is that you, Florence? Kitty, what is the matter?"
"We don't want to stay; we don't want you to tell Mrs. Aylmer, and we don't want to get you into trouble of any sort," said Kitty, speaking rapidly and drawing Bertha aside as she spoke. "But we want to give you this back, and to let you know that what you suggested was impossible—quite impossible."
As she spoke, she thrust the little packet which contained the fifty pounds into Bertha's hand, and then took Florence's.
"Come, Flo; I think that is all," she said.
Bertha was too stunned to say a word. Before she had recovered from her astonishment, the two girls had walked down the steps and gone out into the night.
"What does this mean?" said Bertha to herself. "I don't like it at all, but, thank goodness, we are leaving here to-morrow. I don't suppose Florence will really tell on me. I must discover some other way to get her into my power."
She went slowly back to the sitting-room. Mrs. Aylmer looked up discontentedly.
"Who called to see you? I didn't know you had any friends in the town, Bertha?" she said.