and Miss Liddell. There was an air of
sincerity and common-sense about the composed elderly gentlewoman which
rather attracted the former, and, when they met again in Paris, Miss
Payne came to Katie in her trouble and proved a brave and capable nurse;
nor was she unsympathetic, though far from effusive. So, finding that
Miss Payne's last young lady had left her, Katherine, with the approval
of Mr. Newton, proposed to become her inmate for a year--an arrangement
entirely in accordance with Miss Payne's wishes.
"I did not know you were acquainted with Miss Liddell," she said one
evening when she was sitting with her brother, Katherine having retired
early, as she often did. "It is quite a surprise to me."
"I can hardly say I am acquainted with her; I happened to be of some
slight use to her once, and I met her after by accident, when we spoke;
that is all."
"I wonder she did not mention it to me."
"I imagine she hardly knew my name." Miss Payne uttered an inarticulate
sound between a h'm and a groan, by which she generally expressed
indefinite dissent and disapprobation. Then she rose and walked to the
dwarf bookcase at the end of the room to fetch her tatting. She was tall
and slight. Following her, you might imagine her young, for her figure
was good and her step brisk.
Pages:
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239