"What! have they parted company? Has there been a quarrel?"

"Nothing of the sort; a friendly separation, in the strictest
sense of the word. Oh, Randal, what are you about? Don't put
pepper into this perfect soup. It's as good as the _gras double_
at the Cafe Anglais in Paris."

"So it is; I wasn't paying proper attention to it. But I am
anxious about Catherine. Why did she go abroad?"

"Haven't you heard from her?"

"Not for six months or more. I innocently vexed her by writing a
little too hopefully about Herbert. Mrs. Presty answered my
letter, and recommended me not to write again. It isn't like
Catherine to bear malice."

"Don't even think such a thing possible!" the lawyer answered,
earnestly. "Attribute her silence to the right cause. Terrible
anxieties have been weighing on her mind since you went to
America."

"Anxieties caused by my brother? Oh, I hope not!"

"Caused entirely by your brother--if I must tell the truth. Can't
you guess how?"

"Is it the child? You don't mean to tell me that Herbert has
taken Kitty away from her mother!"