Always pretty and sweet as a flower, always beautifully dressed, she yet

directed, personally, her little force of servants, until room after

room became a thing of beauty. It was her employment during those days

on which Hyde was fishing or shooting; and it was not until the whole

house was in exquisite condition that Katherine took him through his

renovated dwelling. He was delighted, and not too selfish and

indifferent to express his wonder and pleasure.

"Faith, Kate," he said, "you have made me a home out of an old

lumber-house! I thought of taking you to London with me; but, upon my

word, we had better stay at Hyde and beautify the place. I can run down

whenever it is possible to get a few days off."

This idea gained gradually on both, and articles of luxury and adornment

were occasionally added to the better rooms. The garden next fell under

Katharine's care. "In sweet neglect," it no longer flaunted its

beauties. Roses and stocks and tiger-lilies learned what boundaries of

box meant; and if flowers have any sense of territorial rights,

Katherine's must have found they were respected. Encroaching vines were

securely confined within their proper limits, and grass that wandered

into the gravel paths sought for itself a merciless destruction.

All such reforms, if they are not offensive, are stimulating and

progressive. The stables, kennels, and park, as well as the land

belonging to the manor, became of sudden interest to Hyde. He surprised

his lawyer by asking after it, and by giving orders that in future the

hay cut in the meadows should be cut for the Hyde stables. Every small

wrong which he investigated and redressed increased his sense of

responsibility; and the birth of his son made him begin to plan for the

future in a way which brought not only great pleasure to Katherine, but

also a comfortable self-satisfaction to his own heart.

Yet, even with all these favourable conditions, Katherine would not have

been happy had the estrangement between herself and her parents

continued a bitter or a silent one. She did not suppose they would

answer the letter she had sent by the fisherman Hudde; she was prepared

to ask, and to wait, for pardon and for a re-gift of that precious love

which she had apparently slighted for a newer and as yet untested one.

So, immediately after her arrival at Jamaica, Katherine wrote to her

mother; and, without waiting for replies, she continued her letters

regularly from Hyde. They were in a spirit of the sweetest and frankest

confidence. She made her familiar with all her household plans and

wifely cares; as room by room in the old manor was finished, she

described it. She asked her advice with all the faith of a child and the

love of a daughter; and she sent through her those sweet messages of

affection to her father which she feared a little to offer without her

mother's mediation.




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