"What a wonderful woman of business you are, Rachel," said Katherine, admiringly.
"I ought to be! It is the only thing left to me, and I am thankful to say I get more and more—-" she stopped, for the door opened and Lord de Burgh was announced.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
REPULSION.
Rachel started from her seat and stood facing the door. Her cheek flushed crimson, then grew deadly white, her lips parted as if she breathed with difficulty.
De Burgh, the moment his eyes fell on her, stopped as if suddenly arrested by an invisible hand; his eyes expressed horror and surprise, his dark face grew darker. Rachel quickly recovered. "I will call again," she murmured, and passing him swiftly, noiselessly, left the room, closing the door behind her.
Like a flash of lightning, the meaning of this scene darted through Katherine's brain. Clasping her hands with interlaced fingers, she pressed them against her breast.
"Ah!" she exclaimed (there was infinite pain in that "ah!") "then you are the man?"
"What do you mean?" asked De Burgh, in a sullen tone, his thick brows almost meeting in a frown.