The visit was full of both pain and pleasure.  The genuine delight of the children on seeing her unexpectedly, their joy at being permitted to go out to walk with her, their innocent talk, and the castles in the air which they erected in the firm conviction that they were to have horses and dogs, man-servants and maid-servants, all the days of their lives, touched her heart.  The principal gave a good account of both.  Cecil was, he said, erratic and excitable in no common degree, but though troublesome, he was truthful and straightforward, while Charlie promised to develop qualities of no common order.  He entered with a very friendly spirit into the anxiety of the young aunt, whose motherly tenderness for her nephews touched him greatly.  He gave her some valuable advice, and the address of two schools regulated to suit parents of small means, and which he could safely recommend.  By his suggestion nothing was said for the present to Cis or Charlie regarding the impending change, lest they should be unsettled.

“And shall we come to stay at Miss Payne’s for the Easter holidays?” cried the boys in chorus, as Katherine took leave of them the next day.

“I hope so, dears, but I am not sure.”

“Then will you come down to Sandbourne?  That would be jolly.”

“I cannot promise, Cecil.  We will see.”

“But, auntie, we’ll not have to go to Castleford?”

“Why?  Would you not like to go?”

“No.  Would you, Charlie?  I don’t like being there nearly so much as at school.  I don’t like having dinner by ourselves, and yet I don’t care to dine with Colonel Ormonde; he is always in a wax.”

“He does not mean to be cross,” said Katherine, her heart sinking within her.  Should she be obliged to hand over the poor little helpless fellows to the reluctant guardianship of their irritable step-father?  This would indeed be a pang.  Was it for this she had broken the law, and marred the harmony of her own moral nature?

“Well, my own dear, I will do the best I can for you, you may be quite sure.  Now you must let me go; I will come again as soon as I can.”  Cis kissed her heartily, and scampered away to take his place in the class-room, quite content with his school life.  Charlie threw his arms around his auntie’s neck, and clung to her lovingly.  But he too was called away, and nothing remained for Katherine and her companion but to make their way to the station and return to town.

This visit cost Katherine more than any other outcome of George Liddell’s reappearance.  Her quick imagination depicted what the boys’ lives would be under the jurisdiction of their mother and her husband—­the worries, the suppression, the sense of being always naughty and in the wrong, the different yet equally pernicious effect such treatment would have on the brothers.