How ardently she longed to give her mother something of a rest after the burden and heat of the day, which she had borne so well and so long—­a spell of peaceful twilight before the gray shadows of everlasting darkness closed, or the brightness of eternal light broke upon her!  Yes, she would stand four-square against the steely terrors of John Liddell’s cold egotism and penuriousness, against the desolation and gloom of his forbidding abode, the crushing sordidness of an existence reduced to the merest straws of sustenance, provided she could lighten her mother’s load—­perhaps secure her future ease; and she would do her task well, thoroughly, keeping a steady heart and a bright face.  Then, should the tide ever turn, what deep draughts of pleasure she would drink!  Katherine was not socially ambitious; finery and grandeur as such did not attract her; but real joys, beauty and gayety, the company of pleasant people, i.e. people who suited her, graceful surroundings, becoming clothes, and plenty of them, all were dear and delightful to her.

Some of these things she had tasted when she lived with her mother in the German and Italian towns where she had been chiefly educated; the rest she was satisfied to imagine.  Above all, she loved to charm those with whom she associated—­loved it in a half-unconscious way.  Were it to a poor blind beggar woman, or a little crossing sweeper, she would speak as gently and modulate her voice as carefully as to the most brilliant partner or the greatest lady.  This might be tenderness of nature, or the profound instinct to win liking and admiration.  As yet it was quite instinctive; but if hurt or offended she could feel resentment very vividly, and was by no means too ready to forgive.

Unfortunately she started with a strong prejudice against her uncle, and sometimes rehearsed in her own mind exceedingly fine speeches which she would have liked to address to her miserly relative on the subject of his cruelty to his son, his avarice, his egotism.

Still a strain of pity ran through her meditations.  Was life worth living, spent as his was?  How far had his nature been warped by his wife’s desertion?

It was an extraordinary experience to Katherine, this packing up of her belongings to quit her home.  She took as little as she could help, to keep up the idea that she was entering on a very temporary engagement; besides, as she meant to adhere rigidly to her right of a weekly visit to her mother, she could always get what she wanted.

After Mrs. Liddell, Katherine found it hardest to part with the boys, specially little Charlie, whose guardian and champion she had constituted herself.  Her sister-in-law had rather an irritating effect upon her, of which she was a little ashamed, and whenever she had spoken sharply, which she did occasionally, she was ready to atone for it by doing some extra service, so that, on the whole, the pretty little widow got a good deal more out of her sister than out of her mother-in-law.