Kate glanced up with a look of surprise.

"Yes; I am afraid to stay here any longer," was the affected serious
reply. "I might catch something of your spirit, and then my husband
would find a change in his pleasant home. Good-morning. May I see
you in a better state of mind when we meet again."

And saying this, Mrs. Morton passed from the room so quickly that
Kate could not arrest the movement; so she remained seated, though a
little disturbed by her friend and monitor's sudden departure.

What Mrs. Morton had said, although it seemed not to impress the
mind of her young friend, yet lingered there, and now began
gradually to do its work.

As for Frederick Lee, he was unhappy enough. The words of Kate had
stung him severely.

"And so, in her eyes, I am no better than a country clod-hopper!"

Almost every hour was this repeated--sometimes mentally and
sometimes aloud; and at each repetition it disturbed his feelings
and awakened an unforgiving spirit.

"A clod-hopper, indeed! Wonder she never made this discovery
before!"

This was the thought of Lee as he left his place of business to
return home, on the evening of the day on which Mrs. Morton called