"It is," Kate replied, rising and watching Darrell as he removed her

wrap and prepared to escort her to the ball-room. His playful badinage

had not deceived her. As she took his arm she said, in a low tone,-"You affect to treat this matter rather lightly, but, all the same, you

have warned me against this man. 'Forewarned is forearmed,' you know,

and no man can ever attempt to harm me or mine with impunity!"

Darrell turned quickly in surprise; there was a quality in her tone

wholly unfamiliar.

"But I fear you exaggerate what I intended to convey," he said, hastily;

"I do not know that he would ever deliberately seek to harm you, but he

might render himself obnoxious in some way, as he did to-night."

She shook her head. "I was taken off guard to-night," she said; "but he

had best never attempt anything of the kind a second time!"

They were now waiting for the waltz to begin; she continued, in the same

low tone: "I have had a western girl's education. When I was a child this place

was little more than a rough mining camp, with plenty of desperate

characters. My father trained me as he would have trained a boy, and,"

she added, significantly, with a bright, proud smile, "I am just as

proficient now as I was then!"

Darrell scarcely heeded the import of her words, so struck was he by the

change in her face, which had suddenly grown wonderfully like her

father's,--stern, impassive, unrelenting. She smiled, and the look

vanished, and for the time he thought no more of it, but as the passing

cloud sometimes reveals features in a landscape unnoticed in the

sunlight, so it had disclosed a phase of character latent, unguessed

even by those who knew her best.

Two hours later the last carriage had gone; the guests from out of town

who were to remain at The Pines for the night had retired, and darkness

and silence had gradually settled over the house. A light still burned

in Mr. Underwood's private room, where he paced back and forth, his

brows knit in deep thought, but his stern face lighted with a smile of

intense satisfaction. Darrell, who had remained below to assist Mrs.

Dean in the performance of a few last duties, having accompanied her in

a final tour of the deserted rooms to make sure that all was safe, bade

her good-night and went upstairs. To his surprise, Kate's library was

still lighted, and through the open door he could see her at her desk

writing.

She looked up on hearing his step, and, as he approached, rose and came

to the door.

She had exchanged her evening gown for a dainty robe de chambre of

white cashmere and lace, and, standing there against the background of

mellow light, her hair coiled low on her neck, while numerous

intractable locks curled about her ears and temples, it was small wonder

that Darrell's eyes bespoke his admiration and love, even if his lips

did not.




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