picking or
choosing; she must catch at the quickest market."

"I'm sure it is a great pity. That is the reason I stay on here, and let
you teach Cis and Charlie, though Colonel Ormonde says the sooner boys
are out of a woman's hands the better."

"If Colonel Ormonde is the old man I saw this morning, he looks more
capable of judging a dinner than what is the best training for youth."

"Old!" screamed the pretty widow. "He is not old; he is only mature. He
is very well off, too. He has a place in the country. And as to
mentioning those papers, I know nothing of such things. _The Nineteenth
Century_, or _Bow Bells_, or _The Family Friend_, they are all the same
to me. Only I am sure such a nice lady-like woman as Mrs. Liddell should
not write for the servants' hall. She must have been so handsome, too!
Fred, poor fellow, was her image. You will never be so good-looking,
Kate."

"No, I don't suppose I shall," returned Katherine, with much equanimity.

"Are there any letters for me?" asked Mrs. Frederic, looking round as
she lifted her bonnet from the table.

"Here are two."

"Ah! this is from Harry Vigors. I suppose he is coming home. And oh!
this is Madame de Corset's bill"--putting down her bonnet and opening
it. "Eleven pounds seventeen and ninepence-half-penny. Why, this is
abominable! She promised it should not be much more than ten pounds.
There is five per cent off for ready money. Oh, I'll pay it immediately.
How much will that be altogether, Kate? Eleven shillings? Well, that is
worth saving. It will buy me two pairs of gloves. Now I'll go and rest.
Tell me when Mrs. Liddell is awake."

CHAPTER II.

BREAKING NEW GROUND.

Katherine took care that her sister-in-law should not have an
opportunity of private conversation with Mrs. Liddell, that evening at
least.

She rolled up and arranged the disordered manuscripts, putting the small
study in order, and locking away the rejected tales. Then she proposed
conducting the young widow to the florist's, as the evening grew cooler,
and made herself agreeable by listening attentively to the little
woman's description of the luncheon party, and her repetition of all the
pretty things said to her by the various gentlemen present, especially
by Colonel Ormonde.

"Of course I do not mind their nonsense, but however my heart may cling
to dear Fred's memory, I must think of my precious boys," was her
conclusion. To which Katherine answered, "Of course," as