"I ought to be! It is the only thing left to me, and I am thankful to
say I get more and more---" she stopped, for the door opened and Lord de
Burgh was announced.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
REPULSION.
Rachel started from her seat and stood facing the door. Her cheek
flushed crimson, then grew deadly white, her lips parted as if she
breathed with difficulty.
De Burgh, the moment his eyes fell on her, stopped as if suddenly
arrested by an invisible hand; his eyes expressed horror and surprise,
his dark face grew darker. Rachel quickly recovered. "I will call
again," she murmured, and passing him swiftly, noiselessly, left the
room, closing the door behind her.
Like a flash of lightning, the meaning of this scene darted through
Katherine's brain. Clasping her hands with interlaced fingers, she
pressed them against her breast.
"Ah!" she exclaimed (there was infinite pain in that "ah!") "then _you_
are the man?"
"What do you mean?" asked De Burgh, in a sullen tone, his thick brows
almost meeting in a frown.
"The man she loved and lived with," returned Katherine, the words were
low and clear.
"I am!" he replied, defiantly. Then a dreadful silence fell upon them.
Katherine dropped into a chair, and, resting her elbows on the table,
covered her face with her hands.
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