“Of course I do not mind their nonsense, but however my heart may cling to dear Fred’s memory, I must think of my precious boys,” was her conclusion.  To which Katherine answered, “Of course,” as she would have answered any proposition, however wild, provided only she could save her mother from worry, at least for that evening.

Next day was showery and dull.  True to her resolution, Katherine put her mother’s lucubrations into their covers, and prepared to start on her projected round.

“I am not sure I ought to let you go, Katie dear,” said Mrs. Liddell, as her daughter came into the study in her out-door dress.  “It is rather a wild goose chase.  Why should you succeed for me when I have failed for myself?  Besides, personal interviews are of no avail.  No editor will take work that does not suit him, however interesting the applicant.”

“Nevertheless I will go.  I shall bring a new element into the business, and I may be lucky!  Why have you plunged into these horrid accounts?” pointing to a pile of small books, and a sheaf of backs of letters scribbled over with calculations.  “This is not the way to cheer yourself.”

“My love, it is a change of occupation, at least, to revert to the old yet ever new problem of life—­how to extract thirty shillings from a sovereign.  I am trying to see where we can possibly retrench.  What is Ada doing?”

“She is decking the drawing-room and herself for the reception of Colonel Ormonde, who is coming to afternoon tea.”

“What, already?”

“She is quite excited, I assure you.  Is it not soon to think of——­”

“Do not judge her harshly.  She is a woman not made to live alone.  In due time I shall be glad to see her happily married, for she will marry.”

“Tell me, is that irreconcilable uncle of mine really still alive?  How long is it since you heard anything of him?”

“Oh, more than six or seven years.  But I am sure he is alive.  I should have heard of his death.  I suppose he is still living on in Camden Town.”

“Not a very agreeable quarter,” returned Katherine, carelessly.  “Good-by, mother dear!  Do not expect me to dinner.  I can have something whenever I come in.”

Katherine walked briskly toward town, intending to save some of her omnibus fare, for she had planned a long and daring expedition—­an undertaking which taxed all her courage.  In truth, though she had never known the ease or luxury of wealth, she had been most tenderly brought up.  Her mother had constantly shielded her from all the roughness of life, and the deed she contemplated seemed to her mind an almost desperate effort of independent action.

Through one of the very few sleepless nights she had ever experienced she had thought out an idea which had flashed through her brain while Mrs. Liddell was explaining her difficulties, and which she had carefully kept to herself.