"He must be a remarkable person," said Miss Payne.
"He will soon be in Parliament, and has some of the qualities which make a statesman, I imagine. I shall watch his progress." Here Katherine took up a card, and while she read the inscription, "John Fitzstephen de Burgh," a slight smile crept round her lips. "I had no idea he was in town, or that he would take the trouble of calling on me so soon. I thought he was too utterly offended."
"Why?" asked Miss Payne, looking at her curiously.
"He is rather ill-tempered, I fancy, and he was vexed because I preferred staying with Charlie to going out with him: he offered to teach me how to drive; so I believe, like the rich young man in the gospel, he went away in desperation."
"Hum! Is he a rich young man?"
"He is not young, and I am not sure about his being rich. He has a hunting-lodge and horses, yet I don't fancy he is rich. He is a sort of relation of the Ormondes."
"I suspect he is a spendthrift, and would like your money."
"Oh, very likely; but, my dear Miss Payne, you need not warn me; I am quite sufficiently inclined to believe that the men who show me attention are thinking more of what I have than what I am. Believe me it is not an agreeable frame of mind. Mr. De Burgh is a strange sort of character. He amuses me; he is not a bit like a modern man. He doesn't seem to think it worth while to conceal what he feels or thinks. There is an odd well-bred roughness about him, if I may use such an expression; but I greatly prefer him to Colonel Ormonde."
"Oh, you do? Colonel Ormonde is just an average man," added Miss Payne.
"I should hope the general average is higher; but I must not be ill-natured. He has always been very kind to me."