A Crooked Path | Page 7

luncheon to-day
that he had saved, or helped to save, such a pretty little boy from being
run over. I don't exactly remember what he said. I was listening to Mrs.
De Vere Hopkins, and Mrs. Burnett's boy was making a noise. Colonel
Ormonde said he was just like a little fellow he had seen nearly run
over that morning. I am sure Tom Burnett is not half as handsome as
my Cecil."
"I should not have been run over if auntie had left me alone."
"Go and get mother's tea, and you, Charlie, fetch her some nice bread
and butter," said Katherine, who, though six or seven years her

sister-in-law's junior, looked at first sight older. "There was an elderly
gentleman such as you describe, talking with the young man who
rescued Cecil, and he was very polite and interested in Cecil, who
broke away from me, though he had promised to stay by my side."
"Promised," repeated Mrs. Frederic, lightly, and carefully dusting her
bonnet with her handkerchief. "What can you expect from a child's
promise? But poor Cecil rarely does right in your eyes."
"Nonsense, Ada!"
"Not at all. I am very observant. But tell me, did Colonel Ormonde take
much notice of Cecil?"
"I do not know. I was too much frightened to see anything but the dear
child himself."
Mrs. Frederic did not reply for a moment; she seemed to be thinking
deeply. "Where did you get those flowers--those you bought on
Saturday for sixpence?"
"Oh! at the little florist's on Queen's Road. It was late in the evening,
you know, or they would not have been so cheap."
"I should like some to-morrow to make the drawing-room look pretty,
if possible, for Colonel Ormonde said he would call. He wishes to see
some of my Otocammed photographs. Heigho! it is a miserable place to
receive any one in."
"Well, you see, it must do."
"Really, Katherine, you are very unsympathetic. If you have a fault,
dear, it is selfishness. You don't mind my saying so?"
"Oh, not at all. I am thankful for the 'if.'"
"Where is your mother?"
"Lying down. She is tired, and has a horrid headache."

"I'm sure I don't wonder at it, toiling from morning till night for those
wretched papers. I was telling Mrs. Burnett to-day that my
mother-in-law was an authoress, but when I mentioned that she wrote
for The Family Friend and The Cheerful Visitor, Lady Everton, who
writes in The Court Journal and various grand things of that kind, said
they were quite low publications, and never got higher than the
servants' hall."
"You need not have gone into particulars, Ada. Whether my mother
writes well or ill, the pressure on her is too great to allow of her 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