assion for the first real
hunger she had ever witnessed, knelt on the grass by her side, and once,
twice, thrice, filled the cup full of milk, and held it to her lips.

"Now you are better," she said, when the meal had come to an end.

"Yes, thank you, Miss Bertram, much better. The horrible sinking is
gone, and the ground doesn't seem to reel away when I look at it. Thank
you, Miss Catherine Bertram, I shall do nicely now. I do not at all mind
sleeping here on the cool grass till the morning."

"But you are not to stay. Why are you obstinate when I am good to you?
And why do you call me Miss Catherine Bertram? How can you possibly know
my name?"

The girl laughed. Her laugh was almost cheerful, it was also young and
silvery.

"You ask me a lot of questions," she said. "I'll answer them one by one,
and the least important first. How I know your name is my own secret; I
can't tell that without telling also what would crush you. But I may as
well say that I know all about you. I know your appearance, and your
age, and even a little bit about your character; and I know you have a
younger sister called Mabel, and that she is not so pretty as you, and
has not half the character, and in short that you are worth two of her.

"Then you have a brother. His name is Loftus. He is like you, only he is
not so fearless. He is in the army. He is rather extravagant, and your
mother is afraid of him. Ah, yes, I know all about you and yours; and I
know so much in especial about that proud lady, your mother, that if
there were daylight, and I had pencil and paper, I could draw a portrait
of her for you. There, have I not answered your first question? Now you
want to know why I don't go away. If you had no money in your purse, and
if you had walked between twenty and thirty miles to effect an object of
the greatest possible importance to yourself, would you give it up at
the bidding of a young girl? Would you now?"

"You are very queer," said Catherine; "I fail to understand you. I don't
know how you have got your extraordinary knowledge about us. You talk
like a lady, but ladies don't starve with hunger, nor walk until they
are travel-sore and spent. Ladies don't hide at midnight in shrubberies,
in private grounds that don't belong to them. Then you say you have no
money, and yet you gave Tester a shilling."

"I gave him my last shilling. Here is my empty purse. Look at it."

"Well, you are very, very queer. You have not even tol