'  You  alarm  yourself  unnecessarily,'  he  said  calmly,  almost
coldly ;  '  I  am  the  bearer  of  no  ill  tidings ;  that  I  have  an  object
in  visiting  you  I  do  not  deny ;  whether  you  will  consider  it  a
justifiable  one  I  know  not;  I  regard  it  in  the  light  of  a  duty,
and  therefore,  even  at  the  risk  of  paining  and  offending  you,
it  must  be  performed.'  He  paused  for  a  reply,  but  as  Kate
remained  silent  he  continued :  '  Your  brothers  are  mere  boys,
your  father  a  confirmed  invalid ;  circumstances  lead  me  to
doubt  whether  your  —  whether  Mr  Crane  is  aware  of  the
character  of  a  person  who  is,  I  am  grieved  to  find,  a  constant
visitor  at  this  house ;  and  I  therefore  conceive  I  have  a  duty
to  discharge  to  one  whom  I  have  known  from  childhood — one
in  whose  welfare  an  irrevocable  past,  which  cannot  be  forgotten
while  memory  remains,  forces  me  to  interest  myself. Kate,  I
am  here  to  warn  you  against  the  insidious  advances  of  that
heartless  profligate,  Horace  D'Almayne  ! '

As  he  spoke,  he  fixed  his  eyes  upon  her  with  a  searching
glance. Kate  coloured,  drew  herself  up  haughtily,  and  appeared
about  to  make  an  angry  reply ;  checking  the  impulse  almost  as
it  arose,  she  answered, —

'  I  am  bound,  and  indeed  most  willing  to  believe  you  mean
kindly  by  me  ;  I  will  therefore  explain  to  you  that  which  I  would
not  have  condescended  to  explain  to  any  other  man  living — that
I  merely  admit  Mr  D'Almayne's  intimacy  to  oblige  my  husband,
who  has  become  so  accustomed  to  his  society  and  services  as
to  consider  them  indispensable. 