she would have
answered any proposition, however wild, provided only she could save her
mother from worry, at least for that evening.

Next day was showery and dull. True to her resolution, Katherine put her
mother's lucubrations into their covers, and prepared to start on her
projected round.

"I am not sure I ought to let you go, Katie dear," said Mrs. Liddell,
as her daughter came into the study in her out-door dress. "It is rather
a wild goose chase. Why should you succeed for me when I have failed for
myself? Besides, personal interviews are of no avail. No editor will
take work that does not suit him, however interesting the applicant."

"Nevertheless I will go. I shall bring a new element into the business,
and I _may_ be lucky! Why have you plunged into these horrid accounts?"
pointing to a pile of small books, and a sheaf of backs of letters
scribbled over with calculations. "This is not the way to cheer
yourself."

"My love, it is a change of occupation, at least, to revert to the old
yet ever new problem of life--how to extract thirty shillings from a
sovereign. I am trying to see where we can possibly retrench. What is
Ada doing?"

"She is decking the drawing-room and herself for the reception of
Colonel Ormonde, who is coming to afternoon tea."

"What, already?"

"She is quite excited, I assure you. Is it not soon to think of----"

"Do not judge her harshly. She is a woman not made to live alone. In due
time I shall be glad to see her happily married, for she _will_ marry."

"Tell me, is that irreconcilable uncle of mine really still alive? How
long is it since you heard anything of him?"

"Oh, more than six or seven years. But I am sure he is alive. I should
have heard of his death. I suppose he is still living on in Camden
Town."

"Not a very agreeable quarter," returned Katherine, carelessly.
"Good-by, mother dear! Do not expect me to dinner. I can have something
whenever I come in."

Katherine walked briskly toward town, intending to save some of her
omnibus fare, for she had planned a long and daring expedition--an
undertaking which taxed all her courage. In truth, though she had never
known the ease or luxury of wealth, she had been most tenderly brought
up. Her mother had constantly shielded her from all the roughness of
life, and the deed she contemplated seemed to her mind an almost
desperate effort of independent action.

Through one of the very few sleepless nights she had ever e