She understood this, and appreciated it. Soon her eyes began to smile through her tears, and she cried:
'You know I am grateful, so I need not speak any more thanks to you; but oh, Uncle Jack, dear, until you offered me a home I had not realized the loneliness of being without one. Mrs. Arderne has always been so kind to me (you remember her, don't you?) that I've never been sorry for myself while with her, and Uncle Ross's pity this morning only made me feel more independently cheerful!'
'So I've taught you to be lonely, lassie?'
'No; you first made me long for a home, and then you gave me one! I cannot come to live in it altogether, for I must earn my living—not be an idle creature, you know; but Redan Cottage is "home" for me from henceforth—"home," to love, to remember, to dream of, to visit, to spend my holidays in!'
Uncle Jack looked troubled.
'Catherine, you are not—what is commonly called "an advanced woman," are you? You are not of opinion that women should do all the work in the world?'
She laughed.
'No, indeed! but a penniless young woman certainly should support herself, if she is able to do so. Dearest of uncles, don't you think that, by coming "home" to subsist upon the income which keeps up this establishment, I should be defrauding Agatha, if not you?'
'The poor child would receive benefits that no money could buy her: your love and care—and counsel, especially counsel.'
'Whose counsel can be better than yours?'