Kates Ordeal | Page 6

and I must say I felt a little vexed as well as disappointed that
you did not come to see me last Monday week about it."
The widow stared at her visitor. "I never knew that I was expected," she
said.
"Has not Kate told you since, that she forgot to deliver my message
when she came home on Sunday? I told her to ask you to call and see
me on Monday morning, for I could not conveniently leave home on
that day, and I had promised Lady Hazeldean she should see you and
Kate as soon as possible."
"And Kate knew that and never told me!" gasped the widow.
"No, no, perhaps if I had explained it all to her she would not have
forgotten it, but I could not do that in school, and so I merely told her I
wished to see you on Monday morning," said Miss Eldon, quickly.
"Kate, how could you have forgotten such a message?" said her mother,
sharply.
But Kate stood with downcast face, and said not a word.
"You must not be angry, Mrs. Haydon; it was excusable, I am sure, if
you had just received these London letters," said the lady, gently.
"I don't see how she could have forgotten such a message," said the
widow, in the same vexed tone. "Did you know what I was wanted for,
Kate?" she demanded, turning once more to her daughter.
But Miss Eldon answered for her: "Oh, no; she could not have known it,
and so I am the only one to blame in this business," she said.
Kate felt very grateful to her teacher for thus helping her out of the
difficulty, and vowed in her own mind that she would never act so
deceitfully again. No, never again would she follow such a crooked

path, and deceive her mother, for it was deceit; now she saw it quite
plainly. But still she was afraid to confess the whole truth about the
matter.
After Miss Eldon had gone, she had an opportunity of doing this, for
her mother said: "Now, Kate, tell me the whole truth about this affair."
"The truth, mother?" repeated Kate. "Teacher told you the whole truth."
"But how could you forget such an important message as this, when
you knew it was just what I was wishing for you to get--a nice quiet
place near home?"
"But teacher did not say a word about the place that Sunday afternoon,"
said Kate, in an injured tone.
"But you might have known--might have guessed--what it was likely to
be about. It is not as though Miss Eldon was in the habit of sending for
me. She never did such a thing before."
"But still, how was I to know she had heard of a place at last? I have
been waiting months and months, and nothing has come."
"I know that; but still how you could forget that Sunday afternoon,
when you came home and found me in such trouble about your going
to London, is more than I can understand."
[Illustration: Miss Eldon's visit.]
But the foolish girl persisted in declaring that she had forgotten all
about the message, in spite of her mother's frequently expressed doubts,
soothing her conscience by assuring herself that this should be a
warning to her never to do so again. Kate felt quite sure about this; let
the temptation be what it might, she never would yield to it again, as
she had done in this instance, for it had made her miserable.
But I am not sure that Kate felt sorry enough for her fault yet to wish it
undone. When she went up to bed that night, instead of kneeling down

and confessing her sin to God, and asking His forgiveness, and His
grace to keep her in the future, she peeped into the box that stood ready
packed, and thought with a feeling of triumph that she was going to
London after all, and her mother would forget all this fuss that had been
made about her teacher's message when she heard how well she was
getting on there; and so full was Kate's heart of these thoughts that she
jumped into bed without kneeling at her bedside, but still feeling quite
confident that she would never act again as she had done, now that she
had got her own way, and was sure of going to London.
CHAPTER III.
IN LONDON.
It was night when Kate reached London, but her uncle was waiting for
her at the railway station, and she and her luggage were soon stowed
away in a cab, and they were rattling through the brilliantly-lighted
streets. To Kate's unaccustomed eyes it was like fairyland for a few
minutes, and she thought she had indeed been fortunate