Kate was about to thank him again, but he stopped her.

`I had some idea,' he said, `of providing for your mother in a pleasant part of the country -- (he had a presentation to some almshouses on the borders of Cornwall, which had occurred to him more than once) -- but as you want to be together, I must do something else for her. She has a little money?'

`A very little,' replied Kate.

`A little will go a long way if it's used sparingly,' said Ralph. `She must see how long she can make it last, living rent free. You leave your lodgings on Saturday?'

`You told us to do so, uncle.'

`Yes; there is a house empty that belongs to me, which I can put you into till it is let, and then, if nothing else turns up, perhaps I shall have another. You must live there.'

`Is it far from here, sir?' inquired Kate.

`Pretty well,' said Ralph; `in another quarter of the town -- at the East-end; but I'll send my clerk down to you, at five o'clock on Saturday, to take you there. Goodbye. You know your way? Straight on.'

Coldly shaking his niece's hand, Ralph left her at the top of Regent Street, and turned down a by-thoroughfare, intent on schemes of money-getting. Kate walked sadly back to their lodgings in the Strand.