The man-servant, somewhat amazed at her coolness in entering the reception-room, but supposing her to be some intimate friend of the family, went in search of his mistress.
"A young lady is in the small reception-room asking for Mr. Belmont," he said.
He had naturally supposed that Kathleen meant Ivan Belmont, as he was the only man connected with the house.
"Did you send Mr. Belmont to her?"
"He had just gone out, madame, and she did not wait for me to tell her, but brushed past me and went into the room," he replied.
"Impertinent!" exclaimed the lady, in angry surprise. "I will go and see what she wants," she added, rising and throwing down her novel to go.
She was already in a towering rage, because she had been bullied by Ivan into giving him five hundred dollars a few minutes ago, and the idea that a woman, one of his low associates, most probably, had had the effrontery to follow him here, added fuel to the flame of her fury.
Kathleen heard the swish of a silken robe, and the heavy curtains parted and fell behind the tall and stately form of her handsome step-mother.
The girl rose up—grieved that it was not her father, but so glad to be safe at home again that she was almost glad to see again the wicked woman who was the cause of all her trouble.