"The effect of a good fit. I wish you would employ my dressmaker. She is very moderate."
"Is she?"
A short discussion of prices followed, and Mrs. Ormonde declared she would call on Miss Trant that very afternoon and bespeak two dresses, for all she had were quite familiar to the eyes of her associates.
"I suppose you have heard or seen nothing of De Burgh lately?" exclaimed Mrs. Ormonde, suddenly.
"No, not for a long time."
"He has been away—somewhere in Hungary, hunting or shooting—and then he has been staying with old Lord de Burgh. They used hardly to speak, and now he seems taken into favor. He is a curious sort of man, and he can be so insolent! How he will put his foot on people's necks when he gets the old man's title and wealth!"
"If they let him," said Katherine, quietly.
"As he is in town, I thought he might have called on you. He was always running down to that stupid place in the summer, so I——"
"Mr. De Burgh!" said a waiter, opening the door with a burst.
"Talk of an angel!" cried Mrs. Ormonde, rising to receive him with a welcoming smile. "My sister was just saying it was a long time since she had seen you."