the public exposure which he has forced on you. Oh,
Catherine!"

Catherine was not quite so patient with her mother as usual. "Keeping my
best remembrance of the happy time of my life," she answered.

"Misplaced sentiment," Mrs. Presty declared; "I shall put the book out
of the way. Your brain is softening, my dear, under the influence of
this stupefying place."

Catherine asserted her own opinion against her mother's opinion, for
the second time. "I have recovered my health at Sandyseal," she said. "I
like the place, and I am sorry to leave it."

"Give me the shop windows, the streets, the life, the racket, and the
smoke of London," cried Mrs. Presty. "Thank Heaven, these rooms are let
over our heads, and out we must go, whether we like it or not."

This expression of gratitude was followed by a knock at the door, and
by a voice outside asking leave to come in, which was, beyond all
doubt, the voice of Randal Linley. With Catherine's book still in her
possession, Mrs. Presty opened the table-drawer, threw it in, and closed
the drawer with a bang. Discovering the two ladies, Randal stopped in
the doorway, and stared at them in astonishment.

"Didn't you expect to see us?" Mrs. Presty inquired.

"I heard you were here, from our friend Sarrazin," Randal said; "but I
expected to see Captain Bennydeck. Have I mistaken the number? Surely
these are his rooms?"

Catherine attempted to explain. "They _were_ Captain Bennydeck's rooms,"
she began; "but he was so kind, although we are perfect strangers to
him--"

Mrs. Presty interposed. "My dear Catherine, you have not had my
advantages; you have not been taught to make a complicated statement
in few words. Permit me to seize the points (in the late Mr. Presty's
style) and to put them in the strongest light. This place, Randal, is
always full; and we didn't write long enough beforehand to secure rooms.
Captain Bennydeck happened to be downstairs when he heard that we were
obliged to go away, and that one of us was a lady in delicate health.
This sweetest of men sent us word that we were welcome to take his
rooms, and that he would sleep on board his yacht. Conduct worthy of Sir
Charles Grandison himself. When I went downstairs to thank him, he was
gone--and here we have been for nearly three weeks; sometimes seeing the
Captain's yacht, but, to our great surprise, never seeing the Captain
himself."

"There's nothing to be surprised at, Mrs. Presty. Captain Bennydeck
l