The bright young face shadowed, and a sudden fear came into Madam
Semple's heart as she watched the girl turn thoughtfully and slowly
away. The blinds of the house were closed against the afternoon sun; but
the door stood open, and the wide, dim stairway was before her. All was
as silent as if she had entered an enchanted castle. And on the upper
hall the closed doors, and the soft lights falling through stained glass
upon the dark, rich carpets, made an element of mystery, vague and
charmful, to which Katherine's sensitive, childlike nature was fully
responsive.

Slowly she pushed back a heavy mahogany door, and entered a large room,
whose richly wainscoted walls, heavy friezes, and beautifully painted
ceiling were but the most obvious points in its general magnificence. On
a lounge covered with a design done in red and blue tent stitch, an
elegantly dressed woman was sitting, reading a novel. "The Girl of
Spirit," "The Fair Maid of the Inn," "The Curious Impertinent," and
other favourite tales of the day, were lying upon an oval table at her
side.

"La, child!" she cried, "come here and give me a kiss. So you wear that
sweet-fancied suit again. You are the most agreeable creature in it;
though Dick vows upon his sword-hilt that you look a hundred times more
bewitching in the dress you wore this morning."

"How? This morning, madam? This morning Captain Hyde did not see me at
all."

"Pray don't blush so, child; though, indeed, it is vastly becoming. I do
assure you he saw you this morning. He had gone out early to take the