She felt the shame of being an accomplice mingled with a fierce joy at
the idea of a climax that might separate him from his wife forever.
Luckily he did not notice it, but with a continued sense of relief threw
himself back in his chair, and glancing familiarly round the walls broke
into his youthful laugh. "Lord! how I remember this room in the old
days. It was Kitty's own private sitting-room, you know, and I used to
think it looked just as fresh and pretty as she. I used to think her
crayon drawing wonderful, and still more wonderful that she should have
that unnecessary talent when it was quite enough for her to be just
'Kitty.' You know, don't you, how you feel at those times when you're
quite happy in being inferior"--He stopped a moment with a sudden
recollection that Mrs. Horncastle's marriage had been notoriously
unhappy. "I mean," he went on with a shy little laugh and an innocent
attempt at gallantry which the very directness of his simple nature made
atrociously obvious,--"I mean what you've made lots of young fellows
feel. There used to be a picture of Colonel Brigg on the mantelpiece, in
full uniform, and signed by himself 'for Kitty;' and Lord! how jealous I
was of it, for Kitty never took presents from gentlemen, and nobody even
was allowed in here, though she helped her father all over the
hotel. She was awfully strict in those days," he interpolated, with
a thoughtful look and a half-sigh; "but then she wasn't married.
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