said; "and you disguised Kitty! How did you manage it?"

"Didn't I say just now that we looked at the shops, and that I
made a purchase in the town? A boy's ready-made suit--not at all
a bad fit for Kitty! Mrs. Linley put on the suit, and tucked up
the child's hair under a straw hat, in an empty yard--no idlers
about in that bad weather. We said good-by, and parted, with
grievous misgivings on my side, which proved (thank God!) to have
been quite needless. Kitty and her mother went to the station,
and Mrs. Presty and I hired a carriage, and drove away to the
head of the lake, to catch the train to London. Do you know,
Randal, I have altered my opinion of Mrs. Presty?"

Randal smiled. "You too have found something in that old woman,"
he said, "which doesn't appear on the surface."

"The occasion seems to bring that something out," the lawyer
remarked. "When I proposed the separation, and mentioned my
reasons, I expected to find some difficulty in persuading Mrs.
Presty to give up the adventurous journey with her daughter and
her grandchild. I reminded her that she had friends in London who
would receive her, and got snubbed for taking the liberty. 'I
know that as well as you do. Come along--I'm ready to go with
you.' It isn't agreeable to my self-esteem to own it, but I
expected to hear her say that she would consent to any sacrifice
for the sake of her dear daughter. No such clap-trap as that
passed her lips. She owned the true motive with a superiority to
cant which won my sincerest respect. 'I'll do anything,' she
said, 'to baffle Herbert Linley and the spies he has set to watch
us.' I can't tell you how glad I was that she had her reward on