"She is coming to stay with us in a week or two, before the hunting is quite over, so you will be down here still."
"I suspect I shall. The lease of the lodge won't be out till next September, and I may as well stay there as anywhere."
"Katherine Liddell is quite unencumbered; she has neither father nor mother, nor near relation of any kind; in fact Mrs. Ormonde and myself are her next friends, and in a few weeks she will be of age."
"All very favorable for her," said De Burgh, in his careless, commanding way. His tones were deep and harsh, and though unmistakably one of the "upper ten," there was a degree of roughness in his style, which, however, did not prevent him from being rather a favorite with women, who always seemed to find his attentions peculiarly flattering.
"Come," cried Ormonde, "let us push on. I am getting chilled to the bone, and we are late enough already."
He touched his horse with the spur, and both riders urged their steeds to a trot. Turning a bend of the road, they came suddenly upon a young lady accompanied by two little boys, in smart velvet suits. They were walking in the direction of Castleford—walking so smartly that the smaller of the two boys went at a trot. "Hullo!" cried Colonel Ormonde, pulling up for an instant. "What are you doing here? I hope the baby has not been out so late?"
"Baby has gone to drive with mother," chorussed the boys eagerly, as if a little awed.
"All right! Time you were home too," and he spurred after De Burgh.
"Mrs. Ormonde's boys?" asked the latter.
"Yes; have you never seen them?"