"How can I?" she moaned, wearily.
"At least say nothing to any one of your change of mind just yet, Kathleen. Think a moment. Ralph Chainey may not get his divorce. Then, were it not better, child, for you not to compromise yourself by declaring your love for him?"
"Perhaps so," she replied, dejectedly.
"Then you promise me not to have anything to say to Ralph Chainey until the divorce is secured?" he went on, eagerly.
"I promise," answered the girl, with a long, heart-breaking sigh. "Oh!" she thought, "how cold and cruel old people are! Surely they forget they were ever young, or that they ever loved!"
But she could not bear to grieve the poor old man, and so she gave him her promise.
"It is not for long, anyhow," she consoled herself with thinking, for she thought it could not be long before Ralph secured the divorce.
"Then nothing on earth shall keep us apart," she thought, blissfully. "Poor Teddy! he will soon get over his disappointment and love some other girl."
Mrs. Stone came in at this juncture, and Kathleen began to feel quite conscience-stricken over the treachery she was meditating to the kind lady's cousin.
Strangely enough, after she had cordially welcomed Uncle Ben Carew, Mrs. Stone plunged into the subject of which they had been speaking—Ralph Chainey.