"Then I'll run up the day after to-morrow. Old De Burgh has just come back from the Riviera. I'll go and do the dutiful, and tell him I have found a suitable partner for my joys and sorrows; it will score to my credit. He doesn't half like me, you know. Then I'll have a dozen better chances to cultivate Miss Liddell in town, and away from your nursery, than I have here. Give me her address. She is a frank, unconventional creature, and won't mind coming out with me alone."
"Very true. Mrs. Ormonde has persuaded me to take her to town for a couple of months; so we'll be there to back you up."
"Good! Meanwhile I will do my best for my own hand. If she starts on Monday, I'll pay my respects to the peerless one by the time she has swallowed her luncheon on Tuesday," said De Burgh, with a harsh laugh.
Thus it came to pass that De Burgh's card was amongst those preserved for Katherine's inspection; but she postponed her departure first to Wednesday, next to Saturday, and De Burgh grew savagely impatient when Colonel Ormonde informed him of these changes in a private note.
When at last she did arrive, Miss Payne was struck by the look of renewed hope and cheerfulness in her young friend's face. Her movements even were more alert, and her voice had lost its languid tone.
"I thought you would find it difficult to get away," said Miss Payne, as she assisted her to remove her travelling dress. "But I am very pleased to see you again, and to see you looking more like yourself."
"I feel more like my old self," returned Katherine, actually kissing Miss Payne—a kind of treatment exceedingly new to her.
"In fact, I am full of a project which will, I hope, make me much happier. I will tell you all about it after dinner, if we are alone. Your advice will be of great value to me."
"Such as it is, I shall be glad to give it; though I do not suppose you'll take it unless it suits your wishes."
"Perhaps not," said Katherine, laughing; "but I think it will."