She attired herself completely in black, and managed to give a mournful
"distressed widow" aspect to her toilette: the little woman was an
artist in her way, so long as her subject was self and its advantages.
Then Katherine devoted herself to her mother, who had taken a chill. It
grieved her to see how the slightest indisposition preyed upon her
strength.
The period of waiting was terribly long and wearing. Had she, after all,
committed herself to an ever-gnawing loss of self-respect to enrich
another? Katherine asked herself this question more than once.
She had refrained from troubling Mr. Newton with fruitless questions or
impatient expressions, and her mother admired her forbearance. But in
truth Catherine hated to approach the subject of her possible
inheritance, though she never faltered in her purpose of keeping the
existence of her uncle's will a profound secret.
Mrs. Frederic Liddell returned from her visit to the friendly lawyer
rather sooner than Katherine expected.
The moment she entered the drawing-room, where the latter was dusting
the few china and other ornaments, her countenance evinced unusual
disturbance.
"I am sure," she began, in a very high key, "if I had known what I was
going to encounter, I should have stayed at home.
Pages:
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210